Kung Fu Panda 3:The Conundrum
by nightquesttarja
Summary: When The Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five are called upon to save China from a new threat, Po will be faced by two separate challenges. One, his heritage, and two, new emotions for a fellow warrior. PoxTigress
1. The Dream

**My First Fan-fiction.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda**

_Once, there was a warrior, whose gallantry was feared by many, and whose valiant endeavor earned him much respect among his fellow warriors. Nothing could deter the skilled fighter from accomplishing his mission, except for one thing - love. "How could it be that such an emotion can render even the mightiest combatants defenseless?" Said the Warrior. The warrior refused to believe that love would stop him and cloud his judgment, but it was no use. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he could not stop thinking of this beautiful warrior. She was so beautiful that men all over China would travel just to gaze upon her beauty. With much thought, the Warrior became crestfallen, believing that such a beautiful and majestic being would never love someone like him. With emotions filled with anger and sadness, the warrior prepared to leave his home to go on a walk, in an effort to empty his mind of his troubles. But as soon as the Warrior stepped out of the doorway, he realized that he was not outside, but in the room of the warrior that he so dearly loved. The befuddled warrior turned to exit the room, but when he turned around, he came face-to-face with the warrior of his dreams. After the realization set in, he attempted to say something to her, but no words were able to be spoken, and with that conundrum came another one when he realized that she had not even acknowledged his presents and walked right through him. Once that had happened, the warrior became frightened, stricken with fear from head to toe, but before he could do anything, the walls, floor and ceiling that had surrounded the room disappeared and the Warrior began falling into what looked to be infinity._

Then it ended.

Po awoke in a panic, breathing hard and sweating profusely. "Wow, that was a crazy dream." said the Panda.

Once Po had sat up in his bed he realized that he was not in his bed at the Jade palace, but in his bed at his father's noodle shop.

After Po had that revelation, he started to panic, fearing that he would be late for training.

With that thought, Po darted out of bed, and over to his window which from there he gazed up at the sun, and by observing its position in the sky, realized that he was indeed late for training.

**Short chapter, I Know, but I just wanted to make a short chapter to get the story started. The next chapter will be longer.**


	2. Late

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda**

After a long time of running in circles, Po decided that the smartest thing to do would be to start heading for the Jade palace.

Before he left he stopped to say good morning to his dad, but to Po's surprise, his father was not home.

Po noticed a note on the counter, which read

'_Dear son,_

_I had to close the noodle shop for today, because I am low on supplies and had to get more._

_P.S.: Do not eat what food I have left!_

_ Love, Dad_

With the mentioning of food, Po's stomach began to growl, and then Po said, "I could sure use some breakfast."

After a minute of blissful thinking, Po scolded himself, and then whispered "remember the task, Po, c'mon!" and with that, he left his home for the Jade Palace.

While Po was heading to the Jade Palace, he was playing several different scenarios, out in his mind of what Shifu might possibly do to him.

The first scenario he thought of was a best-case scenario. '_Maybe Shifu will be in a good mood.'_ Thought Po.

Po then laughed realizing how ridiculous the thought was, and said, "Yeah right, when Pandas fly."

Po then began to fear that Shifu might make him spar with Tigress, and he hated sparring with her, because she always hurt and humiliated him, but he would never tell her this because she was his best friend and he did not want her to think that he did not like her. Ever since the hug in Gongmen harbor she has seemed to warm up to him and he will do anything to keep it that way.

As Po Arrived at the bottom of the "thousand stairs" he stopped, and contemplated as he thought about two things, one, the hard journey up the stairs, and two, the potential beating from his master and/or fellow warriors.

With the horrendous thoughts, Po said, "Aw man, why am I always in bad situations?" and then began his journey up the mountain.

Once Po had reached the top of the stairs, he immediately collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. "When (gasp), will this (gasp), get (gasp), easier." He said in-between gasps.

After a while of trying to catch his breath, Po stood up, and proceeded to the training hall.

Once he got there and opened the exorbitant doors, he was greeted by a cantankerous master Shifu.

"You're late." Shifu said in a harsh and bitter tone.

"I know, sorry, Master." Po said, and then glanced at the rest of the Furious Five who all were staring at him with distasteful looks, which Po then whispered to himself, "Whoa, déjà vu." Referring to the first time he was in the training hall, and the Furious Five were all staring at him with hateful glares.

Shifu then said to Po "Since you could not be bothered to show up on time for training, you will miss dinner tonight, and run up and down the stairs, six times, while carrying buckets of water, and you are to do all of this by sunset."

The now aghast Panda, opened his mouth to protest, but was quickly countered by Shifu who said "No further arguments. You will be accompanied by Tigress, who will make sure you complete your task.

With that Shifu turned to leave the training hall, but before he did he said with his back to Po, "Oh, and Po - if you do not complete this task, you will do it again tomorrow." On that note, Shifu left, leaving the Panda, awe-struck at his words.

Po then sighed, and was about to start training, but, before he could, he was approached by Tigress.

"Why must you not take training seriously?" she asked in a harsh and disappointed tone.

Po did not know what to say to this, so he just stood there, with his mouth open, like he was trying to say something.

Tigress noticed his struggle and asked, "Is everything okay, Dragon Warrior?"

"What? Pfft, yeah I'm fine, nothing to worry about, everything is perfect." Po said in a nervous tone.

Tigress eyed him suspiciously and was about to respond, until Po cut her off by saying, "Yeah, I should get to training."

Tigress agreed, saying, "That would be adequate, Dragon Warrior."

As Po turned to leave, he was immediately attacked by his thoughts, '_I'm so stupid, and how could I act like such an idiot around her?'_ Po thought as he started to train.

Tigress watched Po walk away and thought '_Po can be really difficult to understand sometimes, but that's what makes him Po.' _With that thought, she allowed herself a quick, but ephemeral smile, and then returned to her training.

As the warriors trained, a distracted Po thought about the upcoming punishment he would have to endure, and he was not looking forward to it. Po's thoughts caused him to lose his focus on the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors, which earned him a painful blow to the back of the head from the spinning arms. "_Ow_," Po said as he rubbed the spot where he was hit, _maybe I should spar with someone. I'll ask Monkey, _Po thought as he glanced up at the primate who was working hard on the Seven-Talon Rings, "Hey, Monkey," Po called out.

Monkey then did a back flip off of one of the rings and landed right in-front of him, "Yeah, what's up?" Monkey asked in a friendly manner.

"Want to spar?" Po asked.

"Sorry, Po, but master Shifu wants me to perfect a new technique on the Seven-Talon Rings," Monkey replied.

"Oh," Po said disappointed, "OK then, I'll let you get back to training."

Monkey briefly placed his hand on Po's shoulder and said, "Sorry, Po, why don't you ask Crane?" He then pointed to the avian who was balancing on the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom.

"Good idea," Po said and then made his way to the water-fowl.

Once he had made it to the giant green bowl, he tried to get the avian's attention, "Hey, Crane!"

Crane then turned his head in the direction the voice came from. When he saw Po, he flew off of the bowl and landed next to Po, "Hey Po, need something?" he asked the panda.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to spar?" Po asked.

Crane thought about it for a few moments and agreed, "Sure, is there anything in particular that you want to work on?" He asked.

Po thought for a moment and then said, "Yeah, we should develop a technique for combat."

Crane was impressed with the responsibility that Po was taking at the moment and asked, "Good idea, what do you have in mind?"

Almost as if he had always known, Po immediate said, "Well, I could hold onto your legs as you dive into an enemy. I'll keep my legs out so I can kick him. The force of your dive should make my kick powerful enough to knock out an opponent or two. Since you can dive so fast, an opponent should have a hard time dodging the attack."

"Good idea, Po," Crane complimented.

"I have another idea too," Po said, "When there are large numbers of enemies I could hold on to your legs while you spin all fast-like. I'll keep my legs out in a split and act like a weapon." Po then imagined himself holding on to Crane's legs with his own legs in a split, while spinning at high speeds and simultaneously knocking out enemies. "It would be awesome," Po added as he snapped back into reality.

Crane also imagined taking down multiple enemies at one time and said, "It _would_ be effective," Crane said.

"Yeah, it'll be called, Whirlpool of Justice!" Po exclaimed while striking a kung fu pose.

"We can practice it outside," Crane said.

"Good idea let's go!" Po excitedly shouted.

The two warriors then headed out of the training hall and into the courtyard.

* * *

Crane and Po practiced the move for almost two hours, and since Po was taking the technique seriously, they were making progress with it. It wasn't an easy move though - Crane had difficulty spinning with Po's weight and Po had trouble holding onto his legs as he spun. But due to their devotion, they were quickly improving on it.

Once training was over, all the tired warriors headed for the barracks to eat their supper. Like always, Monkey, Mantis and Po would race each other, except Po would not be joining them tonight, due to his chastisement from Shifu. This realization put, both Po and Tigress in a melancholy mood. Even though Po never stood a chance in winning any of their childish races, they still enjoyed his joyful demeanor, for it was so bright, that it could light up a room brighter than any amount candles ever could.

Monkey was the first to enter the barracks, and after Mantis had entered no more than two seconds after him, Monkey said, "haha, I win!"

Mantis, being a sore loser, said "Whatever, I tripped back in the hallway, that is the only reason that you won."

Monkey laughed as he replied to the bug."Mantis, you have an excuse for everything."

Mantis was about to respond, but was quickly cut off by an annoyed Viper who said, "You two are so childish, you're lucky that Shifu hasn't seen the way you two act."

With that, the two warriors became silent, fearing what Shifu might do to them if he saw them acting in such a manner.

The long silence overtook the room, but was broken by Crane, who said, "Who will make dinner now that Po's not here to do it?"

After that point was made, Monkey, Mantis and Viper's eyes went wide with the frightening realization.

Monkey then had an idea, "Well, since none of us can cook, I believe that the best idea would be to go the noodle shop and get dinner there."

Mantis quickly agreed saying, "Great idea!"

Viper and Crane both exchanged glances, shrugged and agreed.

Meanwhile, Po had opened the doors of the training hall to exit, but was greeted by a wave of dry air that evaporated all the moisture from his mouth, and sucked the air out of his lungs. Accompanying that was the gaze of the Sun which attacked his skin with intense heat.

As soon as Po was exposed to it, he immediately let out a "ugh" then began to walk slowly while dragging his feet.

Tigress saw this and became annoyed. She lightly elbowed him then said in a stern voice, "Don't whine, Po, whining is for the lazy, and cowardice. You are a warrior, now act like one and complete your task."

Po glanced down the steps and then dreadfully thought to himself,'_this is gonna suck.' _He then picked up the two buckets, full of water and proceeded to run down the stairs.

Po was doing fine for a while, he even said, "Hi," to his fellow warriors as they passed him on the steps. It wasn't until the fourth time coming up that the weight of the buckets began to hurt and he grew tired. He panted and his pace slowed as he began his final lap.

Tigress, then ran with Po in an attempt to encourage him, "Come on Po, you can do this, don't give up," she encouraged.

Po did not respond, instead, he pushed himself to go faster.

After the Panda had reached the top of the stairs for the six and final time, he collapsed onto the ground, panting like a madman.

Tigress approached him with a satisfied smile on her face, "Excellent job, Po. You have impressed me. I thought you were going to give up, but you didn't, you pushed yourself and succeeded because of it." She then reached down and helped Po up to his feet, then said in a caring and serious tone, "Now Po, just be on time for training from now on, alright?"

An exhausted Panda then said, "I will try, but right now, I think I am going to eat and then go to bed."

"Alright, I will see you _on time_ tomorrow for training. Goodnight." Tigress then left for the barracks to grab a bite to eat herself, and then go to sleep.

"Goodnight." Said the tired Panda, and then he went to put the buckets back.

Little did the warriors know that while they were completing their task, Shifu had received an urgent message from far away, requesting for the assistance of the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five.

**There's chapter two, hope you enjoy it. Next chapter should be up by Thursday.**


	3. Problems

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda**

Just a few minutes before the gong, when the Sun had not yet risen above the mountains, Po awoke. He was going to make sure that he would make it to training on time today.

He sat on his bed, waiting in anticipation for the sound of the gong.

He waited, and waited, and waited until…*crash.* The gong sounded.

With that Po raced to the entrance of his room to greet his master.

With his fist in his palm, he said, along with everyone else, "Good morning master."

"Good morning students." Said Shifu in a less-than-enthusiastic way.

Po could tell by the way Shifu greeted his students, that something was bothering him. Po decided not to question him, in case he was still angry about him being late the day before.

The Furious Five, Shifu and Po went to eat breakfast. Once they had arrived in the kitchen, they all grabbed bowls and Po began making Bean buns. While he was making the Bean buns, he got an idea. He turned around and then said, "hey, Tigress, want me to make some Bean buns for you too."

Tigress respond by saying, "No, but thanks for the offer, Po."

'Darn, I vow that before I die, Tigress will have tried something that I cooked.' Po thought.

Once Po had finished cooking breakfast, he placed a tray on the table that was covered in Bean buns. The Furious Five, (excluding Tigress) looked at the Bean buns with amazement. As soon as Po said, "dig in" they all Plundered the platter which drew an annoyed stare from both Shifu and Tigress.

Shifu cleared his throat loudly in order to grab the attention of the four warriors.

When the warriors heard him, they quietly sat back into their seats, embarrassed by their actions.

All four of them said in unison, "Sorry Master Shifu."

Shifu only nodded to them, and then decided to bring up the matter of the letter he received the night prior.

Shifu then said, "As much as it pains me to tell all of you this, I have been sent a letter that asks the assistance of the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five. This letter is from, Zhending, a city far from here. They are claiming to be having problems with foreigners from Liao, that are crossing the boarder. Apparently these foreigners are attacking the natives of that city and stealing their goods; I need all of you to travel to this city starting first thing tomorrow morning, and settle this dispute, before it results in war."

"Awesome! Another adventure!" Po exclaimed

A surprised Red Panda then said, "Really? I thought that you out of everyone would be upset that you just returned from one long journey only to embark on another."

An exuberant Po quickly said, "You kiddin' I love adventures."

Before Shifu could respond to Po, Tigress said "Exactly how far is this place from here, Master?"

"About three weeks journey, _if_ there are no unnecessary stops." As Shifu said this he looked at Po.

Po defended himself by saying, "Hey, sometimes I need to eat."

Shifu then said, "Well, there will be none of that this time. Now I want all of you to get prepared for your long journey tomorrow. You will leave just before sunrise." With that Shifu bowed, then exited.

"Well, if we have to leave again tomorrow, I might as well spend the day with my dad," said Po

Tigress responded by saying "Okay, but make sure you get back tonight early so you can get a full nights rest. I don't want you falling asleep on us tomorrow."

"Alright, alright, Tigress I will." Po said

Tigress responded with a, "Good." Then left, and a few moments after, so did Po.

As Po left the Jade Palace, he couldn't help but feel proud, proud that he had attained inner peace. He smiled, "now that I have achieved inner peace, what's next? Maybe I'll learn how to punch through walls." As he said this, he started punching the air, and thought aloud, "that would be _awesome_!"

When Po arrived at his father's shop he saw him busily cooking. As Po approached his unsuspecting father he said "hey dad."

The goose jumped in surprise and said, "Oh Po, don't do that, I'm too old for it, my heart could give out."

"Sorry, dad." Po said in a guilty tone.

Mr. Ping then said, "Well, since you're here, you can help me get ready to open shop."

"Alright" Po said, and then put on his old apron.

As the father and son were working, Po decided that he should inform his father about his upcoming journey.

"So, dad…" Po said

Not waiting for him to finish, the goose said, "yes, son?"

"Well, I hate to have to tell you this, but, I have to leave again tomorrow." The Panda said a nervously.

Mr. Ping knew what he meant, but refused to believe it.

"Well, try to be back in time tomorrow to help me with the shop." Mr. Ping said.

An annoyed Po then said, "No, Dad, I mean, I am leaving for awhile."

Mr. Ping then turned and looked Po in the eyes, and Po saw a forlorn look in his father's face.

"What do you mean, son?" The goose said hesitantly, not wanting to hear the answer.

"I'm going out to save China again." The Panda said sadly.

His father then yelled, "Oh, Po, please don't go!"

Po knew that doing this would break his father's heart, but, he knew that must save China. "Dad," Po said in a caring tone. "I have to do this, it's my duty."

"But, you just returned from saving China!" Mr. Ping said angrily

Po then responded by saying, "I know, it sucks, but look on the bright side-"

"What could possibly be good about this?" His father interrupted.

"Let me finish! On the bright side, this mission should not be as dangerous as the last one, so you don't have to worry."

Mr. Ping took a few minutes to consider what Po had just said. "Well, I suppose it won't be that bad. How long will you be gone?"

"If everything goes well then it should take seven or eight weeks at best." Po said.

"What?!" His father yelled. "That's almost twice as long as your last trip!" his father yelled but then calmed down and said, "Sometimes, I wish you had never gone to the Jade Palace that day, and stayed here instead. That way, you would still be here working with me, where you should be." The goose said in a grave tone.

With that, Po's heart was crushed, and he thought, '_He was never happy for me? He was never happy that I became the Dragon Warrior?_' Po then said to his father, "I'm sorry, I failed you dad," and left the noodle shop to head back for the palace.

Once, Po reached the Jade Palace, he glanced up into the sky and noticed that the Sun was setting, and knew that he need to hurry up. Before he went inside the palace, he was greeted by Shifu who said, "Ah, Po, good to see you. I have something for you."

"What is it?" Po said in an excited way, instantly recovering from what had just happened between him and his father.

Shifu then told him what it was, "I have a scroll that I want you to take along on the journey. This scroll contains your next lesson, which you will learn and master before you return."

"What's the lesson?" Po said curiously.

Shifu then told Po, "This lesson will help you better master inner peace, but it is not easy, few have ever master the whole scroll-"

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second…how am I supposed to finish this in seven to eight weeks? Po interrupted.

Shifu responded by saying, "You are the Dragon Warrior." Then bid Po goodnight.

"Wait," Po yelled, "Have you mastered this entire scroll?" He asked.

"No," Shifu responded. "The only person that I knew, that has completed the scroll was Oogway," he said as he continued to walk. He then stopped and said, "Po? I saw what you and Crane were doing yesterday and I asked him what it was... good job, you're becoming a master."

As Po stood there in confusion he then thought, _Wow, Shifu actually gave me a compliment,_ Po allowed himself a small smile and with one last heavy sigh, Po went to his room to pack his things.

When Po arrived at his room, he was surprised when he was greeted by Tigress and slightly jumped.

"Greetings, Dragon Warrior, how did your day go?" Tigress asked

"I've had better," Po responded in a depressed tone.

Tigress was taken aback at this. Usually Po was happy, but not now, now he was troubled by something and Tigress could tell. With surprise Tigress then asked Po, "Really? What happened?"

Po shrugged and said, "I don't feel like talking about it right now."

Tigress became unhappy after she heard that, because her natural feline curiosity was begging her to find out what was bothering Po, and the fact that she cared for him and hated when he was depressed. But Tigress respected Po's decision and said to him, "As you wish, goodnight, Po." Then she turned and left. As she left she thought to herself, _I will question him again, tomorrow night._

"Goodnight, Tigress." Po said and then went to bed himself.

**There's chapter three. Next chapter won't be up until after next week because I have to take final exams.**

**P.S.: The next chapter will be the start of my longer ones, because I will have more time to write with school being over. **


	4. The Odyssey

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda**

As the Sun began to rise, its rays illuminated the earth, showing off its vibrant colors. It breathed life into the grass, serenading each blade with its warmth. This ephemeral sight enthralled many, and would caress the eyelids of beings still abysmal in slumber, certainly a pulchritudinous scene to behold, if one was fortuitous enough to see it.

The sleeping warriors were greeted by the embrace of the Sun's warmth, a pleasant way to 'wake on a day such as this. The Sun set a lovely melody for the ardent warriors, but its masquerade fooled them also, for later that day, what was a lovely greeting, would later be a tortuous attack on their bodies.

As the warriors awoke, they were pleasantly surprised to see that the weather had cooperated with them and had even thrown in a zephyr.

Po sat up to stretched, and then he stood up and looked out his window, he stood there for some time, absorbing the warmth of the sun's rays with a small smile on his face and eyes closed. He inhaled deeply, receiving the wonderful fragrance that was only there on perfect summer days. Po then exhaled and quietly but enthusiastically said, "Alright, let's get this journey started." Although Po was upset about recent events, he could not help but be excited about the journey for he was Po and therefore, was a fanatic of kung fu.

Before he left his room, Po stopped himself and said, "Oh, almost forgot my hourglass." As he grabbed it, it brought to him, nostalgia. He vividly remembered when he had obtained it, all the warriors had returned back from a mission in Piaosa village, and it was Po's birthday. Tigress pulled him aside when they returned to the palace and with a happy smile, said, _"Here, Po, this is for you, happy birthday."_ The hourglass is Po's most cherished item, although, he was not sure what made her decide to get him an hourglass, but nevertheless, it was a gift, and the nicest thing anyone has ever done for him. With a euphoric smile on his face, he put the hourglass into his travel pack and left his room to meet his fellow warriors.

All the warriors met outside their rooms, Tigress went over how they were going to travel. "Alright, first, we will travel south, out of the Valley of Peace, then we should arrive at Zhou River, from there we will be able to follow it, northeast until we reach the frozen mountains, which we will have to climb over. After we get over the mountains we will have to keep heading northeast, but without the river as a guide because it ends in the mountains. If we are heading in the right direction, then we should make it to the forest of the lost souls, though it is too dangerous to cross through so we must go around!" Tigress glanced up and noticed that Po was completely oblivious to their discussion, " Po! Focus!" she shouted.

This caught Po off-guard, "Sorry, sorry." he responded.

Tigress then continued her plan, "Okay, now this forest is about half-way to our destination, unfortunately, I do not know what exactly lies beyond that forest so we will just have to head northeast and hope that there will be no obstacles in our way, any questions?" Everyone exchanged looks briefly, and then shook their heads. Tigress then said, "alright then, let's go." And with that, they began their journey.

When the warriors had reached the valley, the Furious Five stopped, expecting Po to stop and bid his father a farewell. Much to their dismay, Po walked right past his father's shop. The confused warriors exchanged looks and then Monkey decided to speak up, "uh, Po, aren't you gonna say goodbye to your father?"

Po nonchalantly replied, "Already did."

The rest of the warriors shrugged it off and regained their focus on the quest they were on - except for Monkey.

The primate could see right through the panda's deceit for he knew him the best, the only person who knew him better than he did was Po's father. The primate decided that he was going to have some fun and chose to play devil's advocate instead of confronting him, He then asked Po, "Really, when?"

At that, Po became trepidatious and quickly said, "Uh, last night."

"Really, why last night and not this morning?" Monkey questioned.

"Well, I just felt like doing it last night."

Monkey decided to quit beating around the bush and started being his friend, "Po, if something is wrong then you can tell me, I only want to help."

"Thanks Monkey, but there is nothing wrong."

Monkey still did not believe his friend, but decided against any further questioning.

* * *

Once the warriors reached the outskirts of the Valley of Peace, Po asked Tigress, "Okay, where do we go now?"

"Now, we continue to head south until we reach the Zhou River. It shouldn't be much further," Tigress said.

After a small amount of walking, the warriors made it to the river. The river was gargantuan, the largest river any of the warriors had ever seen. The estuary raged with such an obstreperous sound that common communication became a struggle.

As they walked, Po, who was not paying attention to his surroundings, lost his footing and began to fall into the river, with a scream.

Tigress quickly heard Po's cry of despair and yelled, "Po!" and then rushed to his aid. She grabbed him by the shoulders and hoisted him back up onto solid land. A petrified Tigress then said, "Po! You need to pay attention, you almost got yourself killed!"

Po did not respond; he was still too frightened by his near-death experience.

After realizing how terrified the panda looked Tigress calmed down and asked in a soft voice, "Are you alright Po?"

The out-of-breath panda responded by saying, "Yeah, I'm fine now."

"Good." Tigress said then helped Po stand up. "We need to keep moving if we want to make it to Zhending on schedule."

The warriors nodded their heads and followed their beloved leader.

* * *

As the warriors continued their journey Monkey walked over to Po, patted him on the back and said in a joking tone, "Po, how could you be _that_ oblivious to your surroundings?"

Po responded by saying, "I don't know, but I'm gonna be focused from now on!"

"Good to know. Wouldn't want to see you die!" The primate said.

"Yeah I wouldn't want to die either!" Po responded.

Monkey then changed the subject, "Hey, Po, let's play a game."

Po, who struggled to hear his simian friend over the roaring river, responded, "What about Crane?"

The primate then shouted, to get his voice to overpower that of the river, "No, let's play a _game_!"

"Oh okay, yeah wha-," The panda said but was cut off by Tigress.

The frustrated feline then yelled, "Would you two quit yelling, it's hard enough to concentrate with the sound of the river, let alone you two shouting! We also don't want to give our position away to any assailants! From now on, only shout if it's an emergency, got it?"

Everyone shook their heads in confirmation then continued onward towards their destination.

After around an hour of reticent hiking, Po's stomach growled, "Is it almost time to eat lunch?!" he asked.

Tigress mentally face-palmed, then said, "Po, what part of, 'only shout if it's an emergency' do you not understand?"

Po quickly defended himself by saying, "This is an emergency! I'm withering away to nothing here!"

Tigress gave an annoyed, "Ugh" then said to the panda, "We can eat after another hour of traveling."

"Ugh, really, that's like forever?! The hungry panda said.

"Yes, Po, we have to cover a certain amount of ground _every day_ if we want to arrive at the city on schedule." Tigress said in an informative tone.

Po shrugged, and then said, "Alright." Po, then decided to read over the scroll that Shifu had given him before he left. He pulled it out and opened it, and it read,

_Lessons regarding inner peace_

_Lesson 1: Prolongation_

_In order to maintain this sacred art for longer intervals you must first focus solely on breathing. By doing so, you will become engrossed in the cadence of the breaths. This technique will open new paths for students who have achieved inner peace._ _It__ will allow for a student to be in inner peace mode for hours, but this technique exhausts chi if used too long._

After Po had finished reading the lesson, he let out a sigh of annoyance and mumbled, "Haven't I already learned this? Whatever, I will just come back to it later." This went unheard by the other warriors due to the river.

* * *

After an hour had passed, Tigress stopped and said to the group, "Alright, we can stop to eat now!" Despite the sound of the river, all the warriors heard her and agreed. "We can travel far enough inland to escape the noise of the river, but we will take no longer than 10 minutes to eat lunch, Understood?!

The warriors all nodded in agreement, and then went to go eat. All the warriors had packed themselves something to eat. Everything they packed was meant to be a quick snack. Po packed a few peaches, Viper, an apple, Mantis, ziziphus jujuba, Crane, berries, monkey, a pear, and Tigress, tofu.

Once the warriors had finished their meals, a satisfied Po said, "That was excellent, I'm stuffed," After that statement, the warriors resumed on their journey.

* * *

After hours of traveling, Tigress glanced up into the sky and noticed that the Sun was dancing on the horizon, and then decided that it was time to set up a place to sleep. She stopped the group and then told them, "It's time to get a location set up for sleeping! We will travel inland to escape the clamor or the river!"

Po then said, "Awesome, Monkey and I will go search for fire wood!"

Tigress responded to Po by saying, "Alright, don't take too long though!"

"Don't worry; we'll be back before you can say dumplings." Po said enthusiastically, and then took off with the primate.

The two warriors ran into the bamboo forest and started gathering up the supplies for the fire. Once they had entered the woodland, Po turned to Monkey, abundant with confidence, and said, "Monkey, you can carry the bamboo, I'll do the breaking."

Monkey chuckled and said, "Okay."

Po then walked over to a bamboo tree and grabbed it with force, and then began to bend it, in an effort to break it. After a few failed attempts Po gave up and in an annoyed tone, said, "This tree has something wrong with it, let me try another one." Po then attempted to break another tree, but failed yet again.

While Po was shouting in frustration as he was bending the tree, Monkey walked up to him, laughing, and said, "You're doing it wrong."

The prideful panda then said, "Oh really, how do you do it then?"

Monkey then walked over to a bamboo tree and bent it back and forward repeatedly until it broke. Once he did that he said to the panda, "See, Po, that's how you do it, you need to bend it both ways repeatedly."

The panda then tried Monkey's technique and when he found out that it was successful he became embarrassed and said, "Whatever, my technique would have worked, it just needed time."

Monkey then responded sarcastically, "Sure it would've."

"It would've!" Po snapped, "You just didn't give me enough time."

Monkey, whom knew that he was victorious, decided not to comment any further, but said, "I think we have enough wood, here, let's go back to the group and start the fire."

"Sounds good," Po answered and the followed his simian friend back to his group.

* * *

Back in the Valley of Peace, in a certain noodle shop, a depressed elderly goose cooked noodles with a face that showed a lack of sleep. Mr. Ping couldn't get the thought of his only son being in the line of danger and regretting his last words to him. _Oh, Po, why did you have to go, why did I have to be such a bad father and not even say go bye to you?_ through his frantic thoughts, Mr. Ping failed to notice that he was burning his noodles. After must frustration, Mr. Ping made a decision, "That's it, I can't do this now, I have to take the rest of the day off." As much as it pained him to do it, he closed the shop and retired to his quarters for much need rest.

* * *

Once they had returned, Po burst out saying, "We got the firewood!" which earned surprised and annoyed looks from his fellow warriors, but before anyone could say anything, Po had already put the bamboo in a pile and was trying to start a fire.

Monkey then walked over to the rushing panda and said, "Uh, Po, you couldn't even break bamboo, how do you expect to start a fire?"

An insulted panda then retorted, "Hey, I know how to start a fire."

Before Monkey could respond, Tigress spoke for him saying, "Monkey is right, you should let one of us do it."

Po knew he couldn't argue with Tigress, so he gave up, and in a defeated manner, yelled, "Alright, you win! if you want me to leave then I will!" and ran into the forest by himself.

Tigress then became confused and concerned and was about to run off to catch him, until Monkey stopped her, "I'll go talk to him," he said and ran into the forest after the panda.

Po felt relieved to have finally released all of the emotions that he had bottled up since he had last talked with his father. Po did feel bad for Tigress and Monkey, he wasn't mad at them and knew that they didn't deserve to be treated that way. He then told himself that he would apologize to them later. He then heard footsteps.

As Monkey was running, he was listening carefully for any sign of the panda, and after a while of doing so he started to hear heavy footsteps that he could tell, belonged to the panda; he then called out, "Po!"

"Not now Monkey, I just need to be alone!" Po said.

Monkey then walked over to his panda friend. "Po, you've been acting weird all day, what's wrong?" The primate said.

"You wouldn't understand, no one would," the panda said forlornly.

"C'mon Po, you can tell me, we're buds!" Monkey said in a cheerful way.

Po then said in a compassionate voice, "Monkey, I wish I could, but this time, the best thing for me is to keep it to myself."

"Are you sure?" Monkey asked in a concerned tone.

"Yes," Po responded firmly.

"Alright then, but I want you to know that none of us are trying to make you feel bad, so come back, and we can eat dinner." Monkey said.

With the mentioning of dinner, Po quickly became cheerful, once again and said, "Dinner does sound good."

Monkey then became cheerful as well, knowing that he helped elate his friend. With a smile on his features, he said, "Yeah, let's go eat dinner."

With that, the two warriors journeyed back to their camp site.

Once they arrived at their destination, Monkey announced, "Po is back!"

Everyone collectedly cheered, "Yeah!"

Tigress then approached the panda and put a hand on his shoulder, saying in a friendly tone, "Are you feeling better now, Po?"

"Yup," Po said in his usual demeanor.

Tigress then commented, "Good to know, Dragon Warrior."

Po then announced to everyone, "Alright, I'm going to start cooking dinner," and after a cumulative, "OK," he pulled out the noodles he had packed and began to cook them.

After some time, Po had finished his cooking and said, "Dinner is ready, who's eating?" From his question, he received four responses, one from Crane, Viper, Monkey and Mantis, but none from Tigress. Po decided to ask her if she wanted some of his famous noodles, "Tigress, you want some?"

"No thanks, Po, I have my own meal." Tigress said.

Po then said internally, _Darn it,_ and served the other four hungry warriors.

* * *

After the warriors had finished eating, Po asked the group, "So, anybody know anything about this place we're going to?"

"I do," Tigress said.

"Cool, tell me!" Po said enthusiastically.

Tigress then told the story of Zhending. "Once, long ago, before the system of an emperor, in the Zhou dynasty, there was a soothsayer, who foretold that "In many generations to come, there will be born a man, whom will lose everything because of corruption. This man, a descendant of yours (Ji family), will cause the downfall of China." The Ji family denounced the visions given to them, and sentenced the soothsayer to execution for his prediction. The vision that the soothsayer had did partly come true, many generations later, a descendant of the Ji family, a man named Chang became the ruler of the city, Zhending, and became corrupt over power and wealth, so much so, that he paid no attention to his family, which was composed of, two sons and a daughter. The eldest was around twenty years old, the second son was about ten years old and the daughter, who was around four or five years old. The older of the two sons despised the father, and plotted to assassinate him. His plans were successful, and because of them he was killed on the spot by his father's guards. The assassination triggered a chain reaction within the family, the son that was still alive, fled the city in shame and never returned, and the daughter grew up to rule the city, which she does to this very day."

"Whoa!" Po said, "Is that all you know?"

Tigress then responded by saying, "Well, I know that the daughters name is Zhou, and she is loved by the people in that city."

"Interesting, maybe we'll get to meet her." Po said with a glitter of hope.

Tigress then responded by saying, "We should, she will most likely be the one to inform us of our task. If we do meet her, you _will not_ question her about anything personal, understand?!

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Po said.

"Alright, I think we should be going to sleep now, we have a long day of traveling ahead of us," Tigress said in an informative tone, and on that note, everyone agreed and went to sleep.

**That's the fourth chapter, hope you enjoyed it! The next one should be up in a week.**


	5. Sands of Time

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. I do own the OC.**

_Falling…falling… until-*thwack*… the warrior hit the ground with tremendous force, but remained uninjured. He quickly jumped into a combat position; ready to fight when, suddenly he realized that there was nothing to fight. The warrior remained in an alarmed mode, sensing danger nearby. He remained this way until he reached a spot in the middle of a flat, grass-covered field, where there was a peach tree and next to it a small flower. The tree branches were blocking the light from reaching the flower, and the flower appeared to be dying because of it. The warrior was overcome with anger at the sight of this, he then asked the tree, "Why do you block the light from this flower, what suffering could it possible bring unto you? This flower is so innocent and defenseless against a tree of your girth." The warrior was filled with deep emotions for the flower; it was so innocent, beautiful and defenseless. The warrior then shifted his gaze back to the tree and said, "Cursed be you, cursed be you and all of your kindred." The warrior then began to notice that the sky was getting brighter and continued to do so until the warrior was blinded by its luminosity._

Po awoke to the intensity of the Sun on his eyes, he squinted and quietly said, "Geez, can't a guy wake up and _not_ be blinded by the Sun?" The Sun was still in a youthful position in the sky, which gave Po relief that he hadn't been late waking up. He glanced over to his fellow warriors and noticed that were still asleep. He decided not to 'wake them, but to cook them breakfast instead. The breakfast that he cooked was composed mainly of noodles, broth and a pinch of garlic. The aroma that was emitted from the food had made its way over to the slumbering warriors and awoke them. All the warriors exchanged glances and echoed the thought of Po being the first one awake.

Mantis was the first one to say something, "Whatcha cookin' Po?" the bug said with much curiosity.

"Oh just some noodles, hope you're hungry!" Po replied.

"You've got that right!" Mantis said and then jumped over to where Po was cooking in order to get a better smell of the food.

Tigress also walked over to where the panda was cooking and out of curiosity, asked, "Po, what all did you pack for the journey?"

"A few pairs of pants, this here pot I'm using, enough bowls for all you guys and me, makings for noodles-," Po said but was cut off by Tigress.

"Anything that is not cooking related?" Tigress questioned.

"Well, uh, not really." Po said with hesitance but then countered, "Well what did you pack?"

"I packed a sufficient amount of outfits for the journey, tofu for food, a dagger in case of trouble and my tea glass." The feline said with pride.

"Well, I like food so, for me, packing extra food supplies is ok." Po said then returned to cooking.

Tigress on the other hand was still curious and made her way back to where Po had slept. She looked around to make sure that no one was looking her way, and went into Po's travel pack. At first, all she could see was cooking supplies, but after enough digging around she stumbled upon a familiar object, the hourglass, she instantly became confused and thought, '_Why did he bring this?'_,_ 'Well, I'm glad to see that he likes this.' _ Tigress then got an idea, '_I need to find why he brought this, but I need to make it look believable…I got it, I'll have one of the five pretend to stumble across it!'_ With that thought she put the hourglass back where she found it and returned to where the breakfast was taking place.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the Valley of Peace, Shifu was meditating by the Sacred Peach Tree when Zeng flew in to deliver a message, "Master Shifu?"

"Yes, Zeng what is it?" Shifu responded.

"I have a message for you." Zeng said and extended his arm to give Shifu the scroll.

Shifu took it and bid Zeng a thank you and then read his message.

_Dear Master of the Jade Palace,_

_You really should watch what you say…it could come back and… haunt you._

_ Watch your back!_

"What?!" Shifu exclaimed and dropped the scroll and ran into the hall of warriors. Once he was inside, he shut the doors and stood with bated breath, waiting for something to happen. As he waited he couldn't help but think, '_What is this all about?_' He walked slowly to the Moon Pool with all senses on high alert. When he made it to the pool he gazed into it and saw a silhouette on the ceiling, he then darted his head upwards to see what was there, but to his dismay there was nothing. Shifu Backed away from the pool fast and continued to scan his surroundings, with his heart beating rapidly he felt a chill rundown his spine and turned around to come face to face with what appeared to be an assailant.

The assailant appeared to be a Lynx and was dressed in a black vest with gold trim; the fasteners in the middle were also gold. Besides the gold fasteners, the vest was being held together by a waist wrap that had an image of a cliff on it. The waist wrap also held up red sweatpants which were held together at the ends, by ankle wraps. The sweatpants had a two solid pieces of crystalline perfection quality diamond, shielding the entire length of both shins. He had finger-less black gloves which extended mid-way up the forearm and had small metal spikes on the knuckle part. On the head he wore a gold Qin helmet. Overall, the attire worn by the feline was of prodigious quality and on top of that, the combatant was in outstanding shape.

Shifu fearfully thought, '_He appears to be stronger than Tai Lung ever did, I don't stand a chance.'_

"Who are you?" Shifu demanded.

The man laughed and said, "I am Baonu, and you will be coming with us, Shifu." The Lynx had a deep, loud voice, which could easily intimidate weaker beings.

"Good luck!" Shifu retorted.

"Shifu you're only making this harder for yourself," the feline said in a condescending way.

"I can easily defeat you!" Shifu said knowing that that was a lie.

The man chuckled and said, "Maybe, but tell me Shifu, can you take nine?" With that eight more men dressed with identical uniforms walked out one by one from behind the pillars. The only differences that the other assailants had apart from Baonu, was that they had quartz guards for their shins instead of diamond, and that they wore no helmets, which revealed them to be clouded leopards. They all walked until they were surrounding Shifu, all of the assailants laughed menacingly and began to close-in on him.

"Come cooperatively or be torn asunder, your choice Shifu." Baonu said with a devious smile.

"Neither!" Shifu yelled and jumped into a battle stance.

Baonu's once joking demeanor quickly changed to anger, "So be it," he said and then ordered his minions to attack.

Shifu quickly grabbed his staff and leaped backwards, over the heads of the assailants. While in mid-air he used his staff and hit one of the attackers on the head knocking him unconscious.

Baonu stood away from the fight, watching with his hands behind his back and an unreadable emotion on his face.

Three of the seven remaining aggressors jumped forth to attack. Shifu saw this, but not fast enough and was hit by a roundhouse kick. He quickly recovered and charged at the three felines that were trying to subdue him and used his staff to hit nerve points on their bodies. His endeavor was successful and he hit the first feline in the sternum which knocked him out. Shifu then jumped up and grabbed the arm of the second attacker and flung him over his shoulder and onto the ground. Shifu then prepared to finish him until he felt a sharp pain in his back as he was kicked by the third assailant and sent flying through the air.

Shifu quickly shook-off the pain and then decided it best to let them attack him first. As Shifu waited he saw the two aggressors speed toward him and waited for their attack. The two assailants then grabbed hands and one of the assailants launched the other toward Shifu, which he dogged with ease and countered with a kick to the now-airborne assailant's chest and knocked him unconscious. The second assailant then unleashed a maelstrom of kicks and punches which Shifu struggled to keep up with, but managed to block them all, after which Shifu jumped over the attacker's head and kicked him in the back of his neck, knocking him out.

Baonu then ordered the remaining four combatants to attack as Shifu prepared for another round. As the warriors reached Shifu, he, in the blink of an eye, hit one of the assailants in the knee with his staff, then swung it around and made contact with another assailant's face knocking him unconscious, Shifu quickly hit the already injured assailant with a fierce punch and knocked him unconscious as well. With two aggressors remaining, Shifu analyzed their weaknesses and before they knew it, ran behind them, jumped up and split-kicked them in their heads which knocked them both unconscious.

Eight benumbed bodies lay scattered among the floor, the wind holding its collective breath—waiting for the next move to be made.

Baonu slowly moved his hands from behind his back to his helmet. He then removed it and placed it on the floor, "You can fight of my men, Shifu, but I assure you that fighting me would be vain."

Shifu looked into his eyes in an attempt to find a sign of nervousness, but all Shifu saw in his blue orbs was his own reflection. '_He is tough, whoever trained him did a good job' _Shifu thought.

"This is your last chance to save your pride." Baonu said, noticeably trying to maintain his patience.

Shifu did not respond—all that he did was stand there.

"Your tenacity is quite irritating, but no matter, I will make you regret this decision," Baonu said firmly and when he received no response, said, "What's wrong Shifu? Do you fear losing?"

Shifu may have been prideful but he was not foolish, so he did not allow Baonu's comments to get to him, instead he was analyzing him from head to toe to find weaknesses. After a moment of scanning his opponent, Shifu became forlorn when he could not find any apparent weaknesses.

"Tell me, Shifu—have you ever lost a fight?" Baonu asked.

"Once," Shifu responded coldly.

"To Whom?" Baonu questioned

"To Tai Lung." Shifu spat the name out like it was poisonous.

"Never heard of him." Baonu stated.

That took Shifu by surprise, he has never before met a person who has not heard of Tai Lung.

Shifu's train of thoughts were interrupted by an impatient Baonu, "If you're not going to attack then I will!" Baonu shouted then—with a fierce battle cry—darted for Shifu.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five were back on their journey—Po was thinking about making noodles, Tigress was contemplating on figuring out why Po had brought the hourglass, the rest of the Furious Five were just thinking to themselves.

'_I have to use one of the Furious Five members that Po would not suspect. Monkey—no he would tell him. I'll use Crane.' _Tigress thought.

In the meantime, Crane wiping dust off his hat, '_Man, I wish I had my special duster, this hat is so dirty' _Crane thought in frustration.

Tigress glanced up at the Sun and saw that it was almost at its highest point—she then stopped the Furious Five, "Now is a good time for lunch," Tigress said.

The rest of the Furious Five agreed, but were over powered by an outspoken Po who yelled, "Alright!"

The group then traveled inland and found a place to eat. Before Crane could even sit down, Tigress asked him to have a word with her.

"Yes, Tigress, what is it?" Crane said in a casual manner.

"Well, I have a job for you—an…undercover mission, if you're up to it? Tigress said—struggling on how to categorize the "mission".

Crane contemplated it but eventually agreed. "OK, tell me more." Crane said.

"In Po's travel pack, is an hourglass—I need you to find out why he decided to pack it, think you can handle that?" Tigress said with a hint of anticipation.

"How do you suppose I find out?" Crane asked.

"Try pretending to stumble across it, that way he won't suspect anything and would be more likely to tell you." Tigress said.

"OK, I think I got it, but—why the hourglass, what about it are you trying to find out?" Crane questioned.

Tigress instantly became nervous, '_Oh no, what do I say?' _Tigress thought and then said, "Well…it's just that he never mentioned it when I asked him what all he had packed and I want to know if he is trying to hide something. I would do this myself, but I fear he would get suspicious as to why I'm questioning him so much."

Crane did not question her any further and left to go eat lunch.

"Aw man," Po cried, "That was the last of the peaches I had packed!" Despite Po's sadness, he jumped up and proclaimed with his finger pointed at the sky, "I will venture out and find more peaches tomorrow!"

"Po, who are you talking to?" Monkey asked.

"Uh—no one, just talking to myself." Po responded slightly embarrassed.

Monkey began to feel awkward and said, "Um—OK… well it is time to go."

"Alright let's get going then!" Po cheerfully exclaimed and then ran off with Monkey to join the rest of the Furious Five.

* * *

_Back in the Jade Palace_

"If you won't attack then I will!" Baonu shouted then sprinted towards Shifu.

Shifu dodge him and tried to counter with his staff but Baonu figured this and grabbed the staff from his hands as he was in mid-swing and threw it across the room "You'll have to do better than that, Shifu!" Baonu scoffed.

Shifu responded with a fierce and quick kick to his chest, which caused Baonu to stumble back. Baonu gripped the spot where he had been hit and contorted his face in pain for a second then brushed it off. Baonu—in the blink of an eye sent himself into a swirling lynx round kick. Shifu saw it, but was not fast enough to block it and as a result, He received a forceful kick to the face which sent him flying across the room and into the wall. Shifu hit the wall so hard that it cracked in multiple places and the air was knocked from his lungs. Before Shifu could recover, Baonu was there and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air. "You should have kept your mouth shut, Shifu!" Baonu said in anger.

At this point, Shifu knew that he was going to lose, but was not going to give up. He then looked directly at Baonu and spat blood onto his face. Baonu became infuriated by this and slammed Shifu into the floor, ending the fight. Shifu—whom was barely conscious—only stared up at the feline who was wiping off the blood that Shifu had spat onto his face, "You've got guts Shifu, and I admire that but you're living in the past, you're old now Shifu, you need to accept that you can't be the best forever." Baonu said then turned his attention to his, now conscious men, and said, "get him into restraints—he is unable to harm anyone at the moment."

Baonu's minions then bound the injured Shifu and took him with them as they left the Jade Palace.

* * *

As the Sun began to set, the group of kung fu warriors decided to end their journey for the night.

Po had begun to settle in, in his resting spot when he was approached by Crane who felt that the time was right to investigate the hourglass, "Hey, Po—do you happen to have a wok packed with you?" Crane asked.

Po was busy with preparing an area to sleep, that he didn't think to question Crane, instead he said, "I'm not sure, check my travel pack."

Crane complied and went to Po's travel pack; he looked in it and scanned the contents of the bag for the hourglass. After some searching he found the timekeeper. He then walked over to Po with the hourglass in his wings and asked, "Hey, Po—what is this?"

Po turned around to see what the avian was talking about. When Po saw the hourglass his eyes widened and while grabbing the glass from the bird's hand, said, "Oh, this—this is nothing, just an hourglass."

Crane—who did not believe him questioned, "Why would you bring an hourglass on a mission?"

"Well, I never travel without it." Po answered.

"Oh… why?" Crane asked in a friendly manner, surprised by Po's response.

"It's special to me; it was a gift I got from a friend on my birthday and it is the only gift I have ever gotten." Po stated.

Crane felt pity for the Panda when he said it was the only gift he had ever received; even the Furious Five would receive a gift from Shifu on their birthdays when they were younger. "Why did you never receive gifts on your birthday?" Crane questioned.

"My dad always told me that the gift I got on my birthday was being healthy and alive." Po said.

'_Wow that's a little harsh.' _Crane thought but decided it was not his place to share the opinion with Po. "Well, Po, I had better be going to bed." Crane said.

"Wait—did you find that wok you were looking for?" Po asked.

"No, but that's alright." Crane said.

"Alright then, 'night," Po said then went to sleep as soon as Crane left.

The Furious Five were all settling in to sleep for the night—except for Crane, he needed to finish his quest. He walked over to where Tigress was lying down and said, " I have completed the task."

Tigress eagerly stood up and said, "What did you find out?"

"He told me that he always brings it with him when he travels and that it is special to him because it was a gift from a friend; the only gift he has ever received." Crane summed up.

Tigress was satisfied with the information, but at the same time, troubled that she was the only person ever to give Po a present. "Did he tell you the name of the friend that gave it to him?" Tigress asked.

"No, but I did not ask," Crane responded.

"OK, well good job getting the information." Tigress said.

"No problem. If you need any more work to be done, just ask." Crane told the tiger master.

"Will do," Tigress said and then returned to her sleeping location and Crane did the same.

**A/N:Well, that was chapter five, I hope you enjoyed it. Next one should be up in a week.**


	6. Caught in a Cage

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda—the OC is mine though. Please Review!**

The next morning came and Po awoke to chattering, with sleep still heavy on his eyelids he tried to listen to what was being said.

"We need to get going, we're losing valuable time," a feminine voice said. "Wake him up," the voice said again.

Po then saw his simian friend approach him, "Oh, good," the primate said, "you're awake—come on let's go, Tigress is in a bad mood because we all woke up late."

"How late?" Po asked.

"A few hours, we best not keep her waiting, so let's go," Monkey said

"OK" Po replied and then the two friends went over to the stressed feline.

When Tigress saw them, she eagerly said, "Let's get going, we have to climb the frozen mountains today and it won't be easy." "No lunch stops either, we eat while we run." Tigress added.

"What!" Po cried but was cut off by Tigress before he could protest further.

"We have no choice, we are a few hours behind schedule and can't afford to make stops," Tigress said solemnly.

"OK" Po said in a pouty tone.

"Good, let's go," Tigress said and then left with the group.

* * *

Back in the Valley of Peace, Zeng was arriving at the Jade Palace to bring Shifu his mail but was bewildered to find that Shifu was not there. Zeng continued to search around the Palace for him, but had no luck, "where are you Shifu?" Zeng said and then found a note posted on the doors of the hall of warriors that read

_I've left on a journey and will not return for some time._

_-Shifu _

Zeng then decided to slip his mail under the doors so that Shifu would get it when he returned.

* * *

*Pant*, *pant*, "Why, oh why?" The panda cried out as he ran with the Furious Five.

They had been running nonstop for around an hour and Po was thoroughly exhausted and desperately needed a drink of water. Po's vision had begun to go blurry and he began to feel dizzy. His running then slowed and he thought, '_Water…'_ and then before he knew it, he blacked out.

Tigress noticed that the heavy footsteps had ceased, and turned around to see why. After she turned around she saw that Po was lying on the ground and stopped what she was doing and ran back to help him. As she did this, she told the other members of the Furious Five to keep running. Tigress then turned her attention back to Po, "Po—Po!" She yelled in a worried tone.

Po then awoke and weakly said, "W-water," while pointing at the river.

Tigress immediately went into her bag and pulled out her tea glass then brought it to the river and filled it up. After she had filled it she brought it back to him, which he drank all in one gulp.

"Ah, thank you, Tigress," Po said gratefully.

She then helped him to his feet and said in a concerned tone, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I was just a little dehydrated." Po said.

"Dehydration is dangerous, Po," she scolded, "If you feel thirsty then stop and take a drink, don't wait for us to stop," she said with her hand on his shoulder.

"Alright, sounds good, let's get back on the journey!" Po said enthusiastically.

Tigress then gave a small, but friendly smile and said "Good idea." As they began to run to catch up with the rest of the group, Tigress wondered to herself, '_I don't know how Po does it but he can put a lot of stress into a person, but also take a lot of it away__.'_

After a while of running, the river began to get louder, which Po didn't think was possible, and the warriors soon realized why—they were at the base of the frozen mountains and of a giant waterfall which fell into the Zhou River.

The warriors gazed up in awe at the massive blockade, and its fang-white tops which stabbed the clouds. The Pinnacles of the giant mountains looked like a broken shard of glass. The Mountains also spat out water from a valley near the top and breathed bitterness and hatred unto the warriors. The mountains were dressed in green trees gently swaying from the wind. The sight was definitely enthralling, but at the same time, intimidating.

Tigress was the only member of the Group, not captivated by the mountains—for she knew just how arduous it would be to get over it. "Do not let beauty entice you," Tigress said to the Five and Po.

"How are we supposed to do this? Do we just climb it?" Viper asked.

"We climb until we reach the snow line, then we can begin our descent down the other side," Tigress answered.

"Might as well get started," Po said.

"Yes," Tigress responded and then began to run up the mountain with her comrades.

* * *

Shifu Awoke in what appeared to be a cage, "Where am I?" He asked, but got no response. He, then tried to open the small prison with all his might, but had no luck—no matter how hard he tried to open it, it would not budge. After many attempts he slouched back in defeat, "So this is how I die."

"No," a familiar voice answered, and then walked into Shifu's range of view. It was Baonu, "You must stay alive while you are with us." Baonu said.

"Why—what is this all about?" Shifu asked.

"Don't act like you don't know," Baonu snapped. "You were disrespectful to an acquaintance of mine and now they're angry."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Shifu remarked.

"Oh, but you do, Shifu." Baonu said, "You are well aware of what you did so it's useless to deny it."

"How could I deny what I don't know, just tell me what I did?"

"I would if I knew, but my acquaintance likes to be very cautious with their moves and will not let any of their associates in on it anyone."

"That is ridiculous, how do you know that your acquaintance isn't lying?"

"My acquaintance would never lie!" Baonu snapped. "Just tell me what you did and we can go from there."

"I can't tell you because I don't know what I did," Shifu said firmly.

Baonu then became irritated but quickly regained his composure and said, "Fine—don't tell me, I'll let my acquaintance deal with you and it _won't_ be pretty, that I promise. With that he left a confused Shifu to ponder on the situation. Shifu overheard Baonu commanding his men. "Move him into a cell," Baonu commanded.

"Yes, sir," the men replied and then Shifu heard them walking toward him. They lifted his cage up and carried it into the hallway and into a cell. Once they were in the cell the guards unlocked Shifu's cage, threw him out of it and then proceeded out of the cell, locking it behind them.

Shifu stood up and scanned his surroundings. He saw that the walls were made out of stone, an iron barred door and from what he could see through the door was a lit torch on the wall. Shifu also saw that in his room, there were two wooden benches and two small barred windows on the wall opposite of the door and near the ceiling. Shifu noticed that there was sunlight coming in from the windows and he could also feel a breeze entering through the barred openings. '_Well I'm above ground' _Shifu thought. He hopped onto one of the benches to look out one of the windows. When he did he was blinded by the sunlight but when his eyes adjusted and he could see, his jaw dropped.

**Sorry for the short chapter, but this was just small part I wanted to add before I started the next chapter. Thank you all who have reviewed this story I enjoy reading them.**


	7. Over The Hills--

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. Remember to leave a review.**

Shifu stared out the window—mouth agape—at the most amazing thing he's ever seen—a gigantic city—and he also noticed that he was very high up. "Where am I?" Shifu asked while deep in thought.

After a while of staring out the window, Shifu decided to sit on the bench and was left only to his thoughts.

Shifu then heard what sounded like footsteps—a bunch of them—walking down the hall. Shifu remained seated as the footsteps grew louder and louder, until they were right outside of his cell. Shifu looked up and saw two guards holding a male fox—that was bound by chains—by the arms. They unchained him then threw him in the cell with Shifu and then left without saying a word.

The fox stood up and ran to the cell doors and yelled out, "I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Who might you be?" Shifu asked out of curiosity.

The fox jumped in surprise, not realizing that there was someone else in the cell with him, and said frantically, "What is this, where am I, why am I here?"

"Calm down—just tell me your name." Shifu said sternly.

"I—I'm Mingliang, who are you—what did I do wrong?" the fox said while running up to Shifu.

"Calm down I'm not going to hurt you, and I don't know why you're here, I don't even know why _I'm_ here." Shifu said.

"So, they brought you here too?" Mingliang asked.

"That is correct… tell me, how old are you?" Shifu asked.

"I'm fifteen," Mingliang said shyly.

_Why would they take someone so young?_ Shifu thought angrily. "Tell me what happened, how they got you?" he asked.

"Well," Mingliang said nervously, "I was traveling with my parents and had gone out to get some apples for them, and as I was buying the apples, I saw a man um… a lynx I think… well he tapped me on my shoulder and said, "Mingliang, you've upset an associate of mine," and then I said "what?" and… that is the last thing I remember. I miss my family, I want to go home." He told.

"I would like to go home as well; I have a daughter who does not know I'm missing." Shifu said.

"Really, how old is she?" Mingliang asked.

"She is twenty-seven, but she probably won't be too troubled when she finds out."

"Why not?" Mingliang asked.

"Well, I haven't been that good of a father, I've denied her the love that she deserves, but I have my reasons." Shifu said.

"What reasons do you have?" Mingliang asked.

_Kids and their questions,_ Shifu thought, slightly annoyed, and then said, "Well, I had a son before her, both of them I had adopted, but my son… he was a great son, one that would make any father proud, but I showed him too much love, got his hopes up too high, and when he was denied something that he worked so hard for he turned on me and I promised myself that I would never make the same mistake on my daughter that I made on my son." Shifu said sorrowfully.

"I think your daughter loves you," Mingliang said, having calmed down slightly, "my mother used to tell me that I should always forgive, even my worst enemies. She was killed by bandits when I was 10 and my father remarried shortly after that. For a long time I hated my father for marrying another women, I always believed that he was betraying her by doing that, but after a long time I forgave him… it was the hardest thing I've ever done, but I'm glad that I did it. You should tell your daughter how you feel, she will forgive you." Mingliang reasoned.

Shifu contemplated for a while, _a fifteen year old is counseling me, and it is working._ "Well I guess I could try," Shifu said but still had the fear that his daughter would not forgive him. "I still believe I don't deserve it though—I've turned a once happy little girl, full of innocence and love, into a stone cold warrior that shows no emotions." He added. "I only recently realized all of this when a student of mine hugged her about two weeks ago, and she just stood there in shock, acting as if that was the first hug she had ever received, and I believe that it was… that was when I realized what I had turned her into." Shifu quickly changed the subject due to the despair he was feeling from the thoughts of his daughter, "Your mother, she sounds like she was a smart woman." Shifu said.

Mingliang then replied, "She was—she was always inspired by a man named Oogway."

At the mentioning of that name, Shifu went wide-eyed and whispered, "master."

* * *

_At the frozen mountains_

"Man Mountains are hard to climb," Po said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Come on Po, quit complaining we're almost at the snow line" Tigress said.

Po silently responded with a nod.

When the warriors approached the snow line, Tigress noticed that there was something wrong with the scene. There was a basket sitting in the middle of an opening. "Nobody move, it could be a-" Tigress said but stopped when she saw that Po was already at the basket. "Po!" she yelled and ran at him and tackled him.

Po hit the ground hard, "What was that for?" Po asked and then saw that there were five arrows where he had just been standing, "Oh, thanks Tigress," Po said and then was yanked up by Tigress.

"Get ready, we are about to be attacked!" she told Po and the Five.

With that, twelve wolves armed with swords charged at the warriors from different directions.

All the warriors got into battle positions and waited until the wolves attacked first. Po dodged the attack with ease and countered with a roundhouse kick to the face, knocking the wolf several yards away, unconscious. Po then glanced over his shoulder and saw that his fellow warriors were defeating the wolves with ease, and then all of a sudden Po felt a pain in his stomach and doubled over as he was punched by one of the bandit wolves. _Oh man I have got to pay attention,_ Po thought and quickly jumped to his feet. "You may have caught me off guard once, but it won't happen again," He told the wolf.

"What are you going to do? You're just a fat panda," the wolf said.

"Buddy, I'm not just a fat panda, I'm the Dragon Warrior," Po proclaimed.

The wolf then laughed, "The Dragon Warrior? That's a good one."

Po then became annoyed, "Ok, get ready to feel the _thunder!_" Po yelled and then charged at the wolf.

The wolf tried to strike Po with his sword, but Po dodged it and grabbed the wolf's arm then bounced the wolf off his belly.

Once Po had defeated that wolf, the last three remaining retreated and the warriors came back together.

"Is everyone alright?" Tigress asked.

Monkey spoke up and said, "I think I hurt my ankle."

Tigress then walked over to him and examined it, "Hmm… well it looks like you probably bruised the bone. You'll be alright to use it, but try not to strain it," She said.

"OK, thanks Tigress," Monkey said.

"No problem," she replied. "Now we must start our descent," Tigress informed and the warriors complied.

Once the warriors reached the bottom of the Mountains, they continued to run toward the Forest of Lost Souls. "We are going to have to go through the forest because we are behind schedule," Tigress informed the group, "Stay close and don't wander off; it is easy to get lost in there." She added. Tigress was nervous—nervous about losing any of her fellow teammates in the dangerous jungle, but who could blame her, for numerous amounts of people often get lost in it—never to see the light of day again.

The group then walked into the forest, each standing so close that they were shoulder to shoulder. It was so dark and damp within the forest, that it sent chills up their spines. The entire time, Po was frantically thinking, '_Don't freak out, don't freak out, it's just darkness, just...'_ his thoughts were cut short when he felt something touch his arm. with a yelp his reflexes kicked in and he swung his arm at the possible attacker.

**SMACK**

He successfully hit the target, which growled in return, '_Haha, I got it, oh no,' _he then realized that the "attacker" was none other than Tigress.

Tigress looked furious, visibly fuming with anger. He was close enough to see that the fur on her cheek had the imprint of the back of his hand on it. She slowly and dangerously turned her head towards him. He whimpered in fear as her amber orbs pierced his soul and her pearly-white fangs tore it apart.

Po knew that if he wanted to save himself, he should say something. But he couldn't, he was stricken with fear from head to toe.

The rest of the Furious Five had stopped to see, or hear rather, what was going on. No matter how hard they tried, they could not see through the thick darkness.

Po on the other hand, wished he couldn't see what was happening. He finally found the strength to speak, "T-Tigress, p-please, I-I didn't mean to, I-I thought that you were an attacker."

Po noticed her movement stop, Ti-"

**WHAM**

He felt pain in his face as Tigress struck him in the cheek. He stumbled back a few steps and tripped over a rock. THWACK, he crashed his head hard on the Earth's floor.

Hearing the loud crash, the four other warriors rushed over, "Po are you okay?" Viper asked.

"Ow," was all that Po could say.

Viper took a look at Po and saw that he had a small gash on his forehead, "Po, you cut your head, hold on I'll get something to cover it." Viper then rummaged through her travel pack and found some medicinal wraps.

Once Tigress had realized what she had done her face contorted in anger, not at Po, but at herself. She was angry that she let her temper control her and that it hurt her friend. Her face then turned stern, "We must continue on," she said, not wanting to sound weak in front of her teammates.

Once Po had been bandaged up, they continued on.

_Note to self - never backhand Tigress in the face,_ Po thought dreadfully.

* * *

After awhile, Tigress decided to check and make sure all of her teammates were accounted for. She saw Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Crane, and then she felt her heart begin to pound when she did not see Po. She frantically scanned the area for any sign of the panda; she then called out, "Po?"

"Yeah?" she heard and then saw the panda come out from behind one of the bamboo trees.

She then closed her eyes and sighed in relief, but opened them in anger, "Po, why did you wander off?!" She demanded.

"I had to go to the bathroom," he defended.

"Why didn't you let any of us know?" She countered.

"Well I knew it was only going to take a second," he said

"A second could be all it takes to get lost in this forest, Po, don't do it again!" She scolded.

"OK, sorry," he replied and then returned to the journey with the rest of the group.

* * *

Before the warriors knew it, they saw light and were out of the forest.

"Whew, glad that's over with," Po said.

Tigress then thought, '_excellent we're not only doing well with time, but we are also ahead of schedule,'_ "Alright, we are doing well on time, but I do not know if there are any more obstacles between us and Zhending, So we will continue to travel on into the night." She told the warriors, and they all headed off.

After an entire evening of traveling, the warriors stumbled upon an inn that had two floors.

The inn caught Po's eye, "Hey, Tigress let's stay here tonight," he said as he pointed to the inn.

"I don't know Po, that's unnecessary money we would be spending," Tigress responded.

"Look," Po pointed to the sign, "It says that rooms are only five Yuan."

Tigress sighed, "I guess it would not hurt, but we all stay in one room, OK?" Tigress said.

"OK, now I'll go pay for the room," Po said and then went inside to go pay.

When Po saw the inside of the inn, he noticed that it was not dirty or fancy looking, it was just normal.

Po approached a bar which had an ugly, middle-aged pig behind it, "Uh, excuse me sir," Po said, "Do you have any rooms available?" he asked.

"Yes, we do, got one on the second floor. How long ya plan on stayin'?" the Pig asked.

"Just overnight," Po answered.

"OK, that'll be ten Yuan." The pig said.

"Ok—wait _ten_ Yuan? Your sign says rooms are only five." Po questioned.

"Oh… uh that's for rooms on the first floor." The pig lied, trying to deceive the panda.

"Oh, OK then" Po believed him and then paid the pig. "Are you're rooms big enough to fit six people?" Po asked.

"Yes, but that'll cost ya ten Yuan per extra person," the Pig said.

"_What_, that would cost me _fifty more Yuan_?!" Po exclaimed.

"Hey, take it or leave it buddy," the pig said.

Po then let out an annoyed, "Ugh," and then paid the pig fifty Yuan.

The warriors all stood outside of the inn, waiting for Po to come back out, "Where is he?" Mantis said impatiently, and then heard a door open and saw Po come out.

"Alright, I got the room so let's go." Po said enthusiastically.

"What took you so long Po?" Mantis asked.

"Oh, well I had some trouble with the owner." Po said.

"_Trouble_, like what?" Tigress asked sounding concerned.

"Well, he gave me a hard time with the room cost."

"How much was it?" Tigress asked.

Po then became nervous and spoke in a small voice, "Well—it wasn't that much, I mean—"

"Po, how much did the room cost?" Tigress demanded.

Po then said shyly, "Uh… sixty Yuan."

"_Sixty Yuan_?!" Tigress exclaimed.

"I know, I know, but he gave me a hard time about the amount of people and that rooms on the second floor are ten Yuan, but that's all that was available." Po stated.

"Alright, I'll talk to him," Tigress said and entered the inn. She then approached the bar where the pig was standing.

"How may I help you," the pig asked.

"Excuse me, don't try to scam us, we know that rooms are only five Yuan, you know that scamming is against the law, we could have your business shut down for this?" Tigress intimidated.

"Oh, I get it, so you're the mama, well tell me, why would anyone listen to you?" the pig asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Sir, we're soldiers of the imperial army." Tigress lied, in order to keep their status as the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five a secret.

"Nice try, but I don't think the imperial army would allow a woman to fight, though, now that I think about it, you could easily pass as a man," the pig taunted.

Tigress' eyes then widened and she was about to lose her temper until Po stepped in and said, "Hey, how dare you make fun of her?! She can easily beat you up and throw your butt behind bars before you could even say whoa!" Po defended.

Tigress just stood and stared at Po, amazed that he stood up for her, she knew that it was something not many people would do.

The pig then became frightened and said, "Fine, I'll give you your money back, just don't throw me in prison."

After the pig had given Po, back his fifty-five Yuan the warriors went to their rooms to go to sleep.

On the way, Po received numerous compliments from his fellow warriors

"Way to put that guy in his place, Po," Monkey commented.

"Yeah, that'll teach him," Mantis added.

"Never thought you had it in you," Crane said.

After the other warriors were out of earshot, Viper said, "Thanks for standing up for Tigress, not any people would have done that."

"Oh I had to—I can't let anyone pick on you guys—you're my best friends." Po said.

"No, really, It means a lot, I am basically her sister and have known her the longest besides Shifu and never once have I seen anyone stand up for her."

He continued to walk with her, but then stopped his friends when they had reached heir room, "Here is the room."

Everyone then began to enter the room when Po was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Tigress standing there, "Oh, hi Tigress," Po said.

"Po, I want to—thank you—for what you did back there," Tigress said.

"Don't worry about it, that guy was a jerk, and I was not about to let him say mean things about my friends, especially lies." Po said with a friendly smile on his face.

Tigress then smiled warmly to Po and said, "Thanks." Po then noticed that Tigress looked like she was contemplating something and then she looked him in the eyes Tigress said, "Po, I—" but was cut off by Monkey who came out into the hallway.

"Hey, are we going to sleep now or what?" The Primate asked.

"Yes," Tigress answered, "That would be a good idea." And then they went into the room to go to sleep.

* * *

When the morning came, the warriors awoke.

"Man am I hungry," Po said.

"No time to eat, we must get going," Tigress informed. she then saw the wrapping on Po's forehead had a little blood that seeped through it. _Look what I have done, I'm a monster, a monster._ She mentally chastised herself.

As the warriors all exited the room, Tigress stopped Po, "Po, listen, I'm sorry for hitting you yesterday."

"Naw, I deserved it, I mean I hit you in the face first."

"You didn't deserve it, you hit me on accident and I let my temper control me and you got hurt because of it, I'm sorry."

"Tigress, don't worry about it, it's all in the past."

"No, Po, you don't understand, I can't let my temper control me like that."

"Well that is something to work on then, and I'd be more than happy to help."

Tigress then slightly smiled, "Thanks, Po."

The warriors all gathered and then traveled through the day until the sun began to set—that is when the warriors arrived at the outskirts of a giant city—a city called Zhending.

* * *

**A/N:That was chapter seven, hope you enjoyed it!**


	8. --And Far Away

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. I do own the OCs.**

The warriors stood in awe at the colossal city—it looked similar to Gongmen, except for two towers which stood next to each other—the tower on the right was taller than the one on the left by a significant amount, but both were still visible over the hundreds and hundreds of other buildings in the city.

"Wow, look at the size of this place!" Po shouted in excitement.

"It's huge!" Mantis yelled in amazement.

Tigress was the only member of the group whose mouth wasn't agape at the sight, "Let's make our way to those towers—they should be where Zhou is," Tigress said.

"Good idea," Po said.

"Nobody should recognize us here, but we had better play it safe and not let anyone get a good look at our faces—this mission will go a lot better if we stay undiscovered," Tigress said to the group.

As the warriors approached the city, they were met by two guards, "Halt! Who goes there?" One of the guards asked with a spear pointed at the warriors.

"We are the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five, and we have been asked for assistance from Zhou herself," Tigress stated.

"Alright, she has been expecting you. You will need to disguise yourselves in order to blend in with the citizens," the guard said. "You must make your way to those towers," the guard said as he pointed at the two towers.

"OK, thank you," Tigress said and then the two guards moved to the sides of the bridge so the warriors could cross it.

Once the warriors had crossed the bridge, the guards back on the other side of the bridge gave a guard on the top of the city walls a signal to open the gates to the city.

As the warriors entered the city, they saw numerous amounts of people walking about and purchasing items from various vendors. The city was bustling with life, every direction the warriors looked were filled with people. The warriors decided to go straight and they struggled to avoid the many people crowding the streets.

Through the struggle, Po ended up running directly into someone, "Oof," Po said, and then turned to look at the person he had just ran into and apologize, but before he said anything, he froze when he saw that the person he had just ran into was another panda.

"My apologies," the other panda said.

Po said nothing and continued to stare in shock at the panda.

"Are you alright?" The other panda asked.

"You—you're a panda, b—but how?" Po asked.

The other panda stared at Po in complete confusion, "What do you mean?" The other panda said.

"I thought all the pandas were killed by Lord Shen, and that I was the only one to make it out alive?" Po said.

The other panda then fell shocked at the realization of who he was talking to, _Can it be—is this my son?_ The other panda ignored Po's question and asked, "What's your name?"

"M—my name is Po," He said—still in amazement.

_Po—he is my son!_ The other panda thought, _but how could I tell him that I'm his father? I can't just walk into his life now; it's been a too long. _"Nice to meet you, Po—I am Bianhuren," The panda said.

"Wait, how did you survive Shen's rampage—I thought he had killed everyone?" Po asked.

"He didn't kill everyone—a few _did_ survive his genocide-," Bianhuren said but stopped as he noticed that the Furious Five were all waiting for Po. "Your friends are waiting for you. I will tell you more later on; but now, you must go," Bianhuren said.

"Wait—how will you find me?" Po asked.

"Don't worry about it, I will," Bianhuren said.

Po nodded and then returned to his group.

"Po, who _was_ that, and why do you look so shocked? You look like you've never seen another panda before," Crane said.

"I haven't," Po said.

Po's words hit the warriors like wall of stone and they all stood in shock, except for Tigress; she could relate.

"What?!" Monkey shouted. "We knew that you were adopted, but we didn't know that you have never seen another panda before."

"Po—why didn't you tell any of us that this was still bothering you?" Viper asked.

"Well—I didn't think that anyone would care," Po said.

"Po, we all care for you, despite how we treated you when you first came to the palace," Viper said.

Po only smiled and then Tigress put her hand on his back and said, "We need to keep moving."

The warriors continued to walk down the large streets filled with people until they found themselves at the gates of the two towers.

"Whoa, would you look at that," Po said as he looked up at the top of the towers. The tallest tower was fourteen stories tall and the second was half that. The warriors were then met by a small army of guards, "State your name and business," the guards demanded.

"We are the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five, and we have received a letter from Zhou asking for assistance," Tigress said.

"Alright, Zhou has asked us to send you directly to her, just follow him," one of the guards said as they pointed to a servant.

The warriors complied and then began to walk.

Just like The Tower of the Sacred Flame in Gongmen, there were walls surrounding the area around the towers.

* * *

Once the warriors had entered the building Po stopped and said, "_Really_—_stairs?_"

"Sorry Dragon Warrior," the servant said and after an annoyed sigh from Po, the warriors began their journey up.

Once the warriors had reached the top of the tower, they were led down a hallway—lining the walls of the hallway were pedestals with various vases on them. When the warriors reached the end of the hallway they saw two large doors and two servants pushing them open. On the inside they saw a large chair that looked like a thrown, and next to it a table. The wall opposite of where they had entered was composed of rice paper doors that were open. And standing looking out the window was a woman who was dressed in a red Hanfu dress that had long, large sleeves, a stand up collar with a gold trim. She was standing with her arms behind her back.

The servant then called out, "They are here malady."

The Woman then turned around and revealed herself to be a tiger just slightly older than Tigress. "Thank you," she said to the servant and then he left the room. Her voice sounded similar to Tigress' but slightly higher.

"It's good to finally meet you all," Zhou said. "I hope your journey here wasn't too much trouble," she added.

Tigress was too shocked to respond, _I've never seen another tiger before, _she thought.

Po responded for her and said, "None at all."

"Good," Zhou said, "There are many things that I need your help with, but not tonight—tonight you rest from your journey. One of my men will escort you to your rooms. But, before you all go to sleep, feel free to wander through the palace here and see some of our city's relics."

The warriors only nodded and then proceeded out the doors to meet the man that would be escorting them to their rooms. The man whom they were supposed to meet was waiting right outside the doors. He was a lynx, and he was standing with his arms behind his back, "Hello, I am Baonu and I will be accompanying you for the entirety of your stay," he said.

Tigress noticed that his attire was not that of a servants and she asked, "You don't look like a servant—what is your occupation?"

"I'm the commander of the soldiers here in Zhending," he answered.

"Not to be rude, but why would you be accompanying _us_?" Tigress asked.

"Well, the matter that you are all here to attend to is foreign and may require military action," he answered.

"What is it like, commanding an army?" Po asked.

"Excuse me?" Baonu questioned.

"What I mean is—is it hard?" Po asked.

"It has its difficulties," said Baonu, "Here, let me show you where your rooms are." He said as he entered the hallway where their rooms were, "Since this palace is not made for outsiders to stay in, two people will have to stay in a room. Zhou has also decided who will be staying where—Mantis and Viper, you will be staying in the room all the way down the hall and to the right, Monkey and Crane, your room is the room just before Mantis and Viper's on the left, And lastly Po and Tigress—you will be staying in the last room on the left," Baonu informed.

As soon as Tigress had learned about her sleeping accommodations, she dreadfully thought, _why, Po— I'm not going to get any sleep._

"After you all drop your things off in you rooms, meet me here in the hallway and I'll show you guys the relic room," Baonu said.

Once the warriors had unpacked their belongings, they met up with Baonu in the hallway, "Alright," Baonu said, "follow me," and he led the warriors to the room.

When they arrived at the room, Po's eyes grew wide with excitement and awe at how big it was, "Whoa—this room is awesome," he said in a small voice and then ran towards the closest relic which drew a deep, loud but joyful laugh from Baonu.

"I like your admiration for our city's history," Baonu said to Po as he caught up with him.

"These relics are _so_ _cool_," said an exuberant Po.

With a happy smile on his face, Baonu pat Po on the back and said, "Indeed they are—but if you really want to see something cool, I'll show you the armory."

At the offer, Po became ecstatic and said, "That would be extremely cool."

"Alright then follow me," Baonu said as he led the Dragon Warrior to his destination.

"Wait," Po said, "what about the rest of the group-aren't you going to show them too?"

"No—they look like they're busy checking out the relics," Baonu responded.

"OK," said Po and he followed the lynx to the armory.

* * *

Once they had arrived, Po's mouth dropped at the sight, "this is severely cool," he said.

"Indeed," the lynx said, "We have many weapons in here, swords, crossbows, catapults, and most recently, a cannon.

"What's a cannon?" Po asked.

"You should know what it is; it is the weapon that Lord Shen had created," Baonu said.

"Oh," Po said, "How did you get a hold of one?"

"Well, Lord Shen did not cover his tracks well, and left behind the designs for the weapon. The imperial army then found those designs and used them to create cannons for the army to use. We got this one just the other day," Baonu said as he laid his hand on it.

"Well, at least these weapons are in good hands now," Po said while observing the weapon.

"You've got that right," said Baonu. "There's so much that I have to show you, but for now it is probably a good idea to get to sleep—we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Yeah, and that journey took a lot out of me," Po said.

"Well, tomorrow I will show you, the training room," the lynx said.

"Sounds awesome, I'll be looking forward to it," Po said as he yawned, "Well, goodnight," the panda said as he turned around and began to walk out.

"Goodnight, Dragon Warrior," Baonu replied.

* * *

As Po returned to the relic room he saw that Tigress was the only one still there, "Where are the others?" Po asked.

Tigress looked up in surprise, "Po, where did you go? The others already went back to their rooms," she said with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Sorry, Baonu took me to the armory," Po answered and then asked, "Wait, why are you still down here?"

"Because, Po, you had me worried. Do not run off again without informing one of us," the worried feline said.

"Alright I won't wander off again without telling anyone," Po agreed.

"Good, now let's go to sleep," Tigress said, and then the two warriors went to their room to get the rest which they've been wanting ever since they left the Jade Palace.

* * *

**That was chapter eight, hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter should be a long one.**


	9. Victim of Changes

**I do not own Kung Fu Panda. I do own the OCs. Forgive me, this chapter did not end up being as long as I thought it would.**

In the early hours of the morn', Po lay sleeping sound in his bed—mouth open and drooling on his pillow. A cool breeze brushed over him and he awoke. The tired panda looked over to where Tigress' bed was, but did not see her in it. He then forced himself out of his bed only for his attention to be grabbed by the opened rice-paper doors that led to the balcony. He looked out and saw a familiar feline leaning on the red-painted railings with her arms crossed—gazing at the semi-bright sky of the dawn. She appeared to be in deep thought. With a yawn Po asked, "Good morning Tigress, what are you doing?"

"Good morning Po—apologies, did I wake you?" She responded without averting her gaze from the sky.

"No, I 'm just not tired right now," Po lied which Tigress knew immediately.

"You're lying, Po, I just saw you yawn _and_ you're struggling to keep your eyes open," Tigress said.

"Ok, you caught me, but I don't care," Po said and then changed the subject, "Why are you up so early?"

"I just wanted to look at the sky before the Sun rose," Tigress lied.

Po could tell that she was lying and decided to question her further, "You look like something's on your mind."

"I'm fine—nothing is bothering me," she lied again.

"If something's wrong, Tigress, you can tell me," Po said.

"Po, I told you, I'm fine," Tigress said, slightly annoyed.

"Tigress, you are not fine—I can tell by the fact that you're not even looking at me," he said with concern in his voice.

"Po-," Tigress began sternly, but was cut off by him.

"No, Tigress just tell me what is wrong—you made me tell you what was wrong back at Gongmen, so why can't you tell me?" Po said, slightly raising his voice.

Tigress closed her eyes and slowly turned her herself to face Po. When she opened her eyes, all that Po could see was sorrow, "I appreciate your concern Dragon Warrior, but some things are better left unsaid."

"I can't beat the information out of you, like you did to me, but I wish you would just tell me," Po said with concern, evident on his features.

"You can't understand, Po—no one can," Tigress said quietly.

"Tigress, I'm going to tell you something that is very hard for me—the last memory I have of my parents is my mom, putting me in a radish basket—and then—sacrificing herself to Lord Shen to save me," Po said and then looked down in sorrow showing that the subject was still painful.

Tigress stern face turned soft and shocked, just like in Gongmen jail when Po told her why he let Shen get away. She stood silent for a few moments, feeling pity for the panda. After a while she said softly, "Po, I—I'm sorry, I didn't know that you're past was so—sad."

"Seeing that panda yesterday reopened those wounds that I thought I had closed forever," Po said in a sorrowful tone.

"Po—I will tell you what is bothering me, but promise me that you won't tell anyone else," Tigress said.

"Promise," Po said.

"Alright—when I saw Zhou yesterday, and that she was a tiger, well I got all these pains about my birth parents that I never knew. The only memory that I have of them is being left on the doorstep of Bao Gu. It used to really bother me when I was younger, and now it's back, bothering me again," Tigress said with some trouble.

"Tigress, when I found out about my past, I was told this 'your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn't make you who you are. It is the rest of your story, who you choose to be,' hearing that helped me feel better because I realized that my life is good, I have friends and family and that's all I need to be happy," Po said in an effort to cheer Tigress up. "Stop outlining the bad parts of your life and start realizing all the good parts and the many good parts to come," he added.

Tigress just sat there, letting his words sink in, she then asked, "How, Po? I need your help,"

Po then, for the first time in his life, said something wise, "No, you just need to believe."

Tigress was shocked that Po said something so master-like. She then gave Po a small smile and then said, "I will try."

"Good—Tigress I'm glad that you told me—having someone who can relate helps," Po said.

"Po—did the words that I said to you back when you became Dragon Warrior, stay—are any of the things that I said still bothering you?" Tigress asked.

"No, because I know now that you don't feel the same way now and that also, you were mad and who could blame you because anyone would have acted the same if they were in your position," Po informed.

"That's good to know—thanks Po," Tigress said with a smile and then she noticed that the Sun had begun to rise, "We had better get ready for the long day ahead," she said.

"Sounds good," Po replied and the two warriors went to get ready to go meet Zhou.

* * *

Once the warriors were finished getting ready, they met in the hallway

"Alright," Tigress said, "we should go now to meet with Zhou."

The warriors all agreed and they then made their way to Zhou's room. When they arrived the servants opened the large doors and inside the room were Zhou and Baonu waiting for them to arrive.

When Zhou saw them, she greeted them, "Ah, good morning. I hope you all had a good night's rest."

"We most certainly did," Monkey commented.

"Good to hear, but now we must get to the task at hand—as you all know we are having problems with foreigners from Liao that are sneaking across the boarders and stealing goods from our citizens. They are sneaky and are not working alone. There is this man who claims to be a food vendor, his name is Ren—I need you all to go and investigate him and find out if he is working with the Liaos. Baonu will lead you to him. Report your findings to me later," Zhou said.

All of the masters nodded their heads in confirmation and left the palace with Baonu.

Once they were outside of the palace parameters, Baonu said, "Alright, this vendor is located deep within the heart of the city. His shop's name is Yu He Tang. I'll take you to it and then you all will have to interrogate him."

Baonu then led the warriors into the heart of the city and to the shop. Behind the counter was a middle-aged male antelope. Po then began to approach the table when he was stopped by Tigress.

"Uh, Po—I think I should deal with the interrogation," Tigress said.

"What, why can't I do it?" Po asked.

"Well, you're not exactly the most intimidating person," Tigress said.

"What, I am very intimidating," Po said slightly insulted.

Monkey then walked up to Po and asked, "Po, who do you think a person would be more scared of, you or Tigress?"

Po thought for a moment and then got Monkey's point, "Yeah I see."

Tigress then walked over to the counter of the shop and asked, "Excuse me, but have you seen any foreigners from Liao, in the city?"

"I'm not sure," the antelope said, "I heard that they were robbing the citizens here, is that true?" The antelope asked.

"It is, but you already knew that," Tigress said harshly.

"W—what are you—," the antelope said, fearing the upset tiger.

"Spare me the excuses; you're little game ends here!" Tigress said sharply.

"W—what's going on?" the frightened antelope asked.

"I've got it from here," Baonu said, "I'll take him back while you guys search his home for any evidence of association with Liao," He added.

"OK," the warriors said and Baonu left with the frightened and confused antelope.

The warriors then searched for a way to get into the antelope's house. Crane spotted an open window on the second floor and the warriors all performed kung fu jumps to enter—except for Po, he could not jump high enough. Tigress noticed that Po had not entered with them. She then sighed and looked out of the open window at the struggling panda. She then asked, "Do you need any help?"

"Nah, I've totally got this," Po said, prideful.

Tigress just stood there watching him for just a few moments until Po swallowed his pride and said, "Ok, I need help."

Once all of the warriors were inside the house, they began to search for any evidence. Tigress began to check in dresser drawers while the others (minus Po) went downstairs to check.

"What are we looking for?" Po asked.

"Any evidence that Ren is working with the Liaos," Tigress answered while scuffling through the drawers.

"Like, what kind of evidence?" Po asked.

"Look for anything with writing on it, like notes," the feline answered.

After some looking around, Po spotted a note on top of a dresser. An exuberant Po then did a dance and yelled, "Tigress, Tigress, I found a note!"

Tigress then grabbed the note and began to read it. She then became frustrated and said, "Po, this is a shopping list, not evidence."

Po then said, "What," And grabbed the list from her hands and saw that it _was_ a shopping list and became embarrassed saying, "Oh."

After about an hour of hard searching, the warriors gave up and decided that they should return to Zhou's palace.

* * *

When they returned to the palace, Baonu met up with Po and asked, "Do you want to see the training room now?"

"You bet," Po said enthusiastically.

"Good, but first we must meet with Zhou and tell her about the mission," Baonu informed.

"Alright," Po said.

"So, did you guys find anything?" Baonu asked the group.

Tigress then stepped up and said, "We did not find any evidence and we searched every spot in that house—he may be innocent."

"Maybe, but we will see what Zhou wants us to do about it," Baonu said.

All of the warriors then made their way to Zhou's room and when they got there, Baonu informed her of the mission's details. "We have Ren in the interrogation rooms; he has not been interrogated yet though. His home was also thoroughly searched by the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five."

Baonu then motion towards the warriors and Tigress stepped forward, "We did not find any evidence that Ren is working with Liao," she informed.

"Very well, good work. Baonu, Dragon Warrior—interrogate Ren," Zhou said.

Both Baonu and Po said yes, and then left to go interrogate the antelope.

As the Furious Five were leaving, Zhou stopped Tigress and asked her to stay which Tigress obliged.

"Tigress," Zhou said, "It is very interesting to see another tiger. Truth-be-told, I have never seen another tiger before, well not that I can remember anyway. I'm sure that you've heard the story of my origins, right?"

Tigress nodded in confirmation.

"Well," Zhou continued, "Ever since then, I have been eager to see another tiger, and, well I have heard that you were adopted, so I was wondering if you wanted to know about your origins too. If so, then I can dig up information on your past and find out, really anything that you want to know."

Tigress was shocked by Zhou's offer and accepted it and then asked, "Forgive me for asking, but, why are you doing this?"

"I have always been curious about my family, but have been lucky enough to be able to easily find out about it. You on-the-other-hand, did not have that opportunity and I want to bring you some peace by answering those life-long questions," Zhou said.

Tigress took a moment to let it settle in her mind and then she said, "Thank you."

"Not a problem at all, just happy to help," Zhou said and then sat back down as Tigress left.

* * *

Po and Baonu entered the interrogation room where Ren was. They sat down and Ren asked, "Why am I here?"

"We think that you are working with the Liaos," Baonu said.

"Liao? Why would I work with them?" Ren asked.

"They have been entering the city illegally, somehow and the only possible way they could do that is by having connections on the inside of the city," Baonu said.

"But, why would you think I have something to do with it?" Ren asked.

"We've seen you acting suspiciously over the past week; like you're trying to hide something," Baonu said.

"I have been trying to hide my business so that the Liaos won't steal my goods," Ren defended.

"How do we know that you're telling the truth?" Baonu asked.

"I—I don't know," Ren said, defeated.

"I have an idea," Po said, "We could have guards keep an eye on him at his shop for a week or so."

Baonu considered this for a moment and then agreed, "Good idea, I will have to run it by Zhou later this evening. For the meantime, you will wait in this room," he said to Ren.

The two warriors then left the interrogation room and headed for the training room. As they walked Po asked, "Do you think he is innocent?"

"I do, but that does not matter, what matters is Zhou's decision," Baonu replied and they arrived at the training room.

"Wow," Po said as he saw the giant room with many different training courses.

"Let me show you some of these stations," Baonu said as he walked to the first one.

"This one is a test of balance and endurance," Baonu said as he pointed to the rectangular pit with coals in it and a long metal pole going over it. "The goal of this one is to maintain your balance while dealing with the sensation of burning coals beneath your feet," he added.

"Sounds painful," Po commented.

"It is, but it works," Baonu said.

Baonu then led him to the next station, "Now this one over here is a test of agility and evasion," he said as he pointed upward at a rope that was connected from one balcony to another, "The objective of that one is to cross it with your hands, while evading stones being thrown at you. Each time a person attempts it, they must try to complete it faster than the time before. Eventually, when the person masters it, we tie heavy metal balls around their feet. It definitely makes it harder," he explained.

"There are plenty of other station here, but I'm going to just cut-to-the-chase and show you my personal favorite," Baonu said as he led the Dragon Warrior to it. "Here it is," Baonu said as he showed Po what looked like the outside of a room.

"What is it?" Po asked.

"This is a maze, but the person going though it must be blindfolded. It is the most difficult course we have and due to its size, few have ever completed it. The fastest it has ever been completed was around three hours," Baonu said.

"Wow that sounds really hard!" Po commented. "Maybe I'll have the Five come and try it out sometime," he added.

"Anytime you want just feel free to come down here and train," Baonu said.

"Will do," Po replied.

Tigress then entered the room and approached the two warriors, "Po, there you are—you have a visitor," She said.

"Really, who is it?" Po asked.

"I don't know, but it's a panda," Tigress said.

"Oh, ok," Po said and then turned to Baonu, "Well, thanks for showing me the training room, it is amazing; you'll have to show me more, later," he said.

"Alright, Dragon Warrior I will," Baonu said, "Don't forget that we have to see Zhou later," he added.

"Don't worry I won't forget," then he left with Tigress.

* * *

Once Po had made it back to his room he saw a familiar panda standing there waiting patiently. When the panda spotted Po he said, "Ah, good to see you. I hope this isn't a bad time to talk?" Bianhuren asked hopefully.

"Not at all, let's talk in my room here," Po said and they went into the room while Tigress went to Mantis and Viper's room to give Po privacy.

Once the two pandas were in the room, Bianhuren said, "Po I have many things to tell you."

"I also have many questions," Po said.

Bianhuren then said, "Yes, yes but first, there is something that I must tell you, something that might be difficult for you to understand."

"OK," Po said nervous about what the panda was about to tell him.

"Po—I'm your father."

At that moment Po felt the blood in his veins run dry and he then said, "Hold on, I—I just need to be alone for a minute." He then stood up and walked out onto his balcony.

Bianhuren then decided that he should come back another time so he stood, walked to the doors of the balcony and said, "I know how difficult this is for you so I'll come back tomorrow."

Po did not even nod, but his father knew just how difficult it must have been for him that's why he decided to before he left, he gave Po a hug and said, "I'm glad to finally see you again, son"

Po returned the embrace, but did not say anything. After they had ended the embrace, Bianhuren left.

On his way out, Bianhuren left a note on Po's door saying, 'do not disturb.'

After a while, Tigress went to go check and see if they were still talking. When she saw the note, she disregarded it and walked into the room. She became nervous when she did not see Po, but then saw that the balcony door was slightly open so she decided to check and see if he was out there. When she opened the door she was relieved to see the panda sitting there. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it once she saw that he looked very troubled. She then decided to say, "Po, we need to meet with Zhou."

"Ok," the panda said indifferently and then stood up and walked past her into the hall. He didn't stop though; he continued to walk toward where Zhou's room was.

This concerned Tigress, _Something is wrong with him,_ she thought and then met with her fellow warriors and went to Zhou's room.

When the Five got there, they saw that Po and Baonu were already there.

"Now that you are all here, we can decide what to do with the prisoner," Zhou said, "Now, what did you find out from the interrogation."

Baonu stepped up and said, "After much questioning, we believe that he is innocent."

"No, the man is lying, he must be thrown in prison," Zhou said.

"But—," Baonu protested but was cut off.

"No, Baonu, he must be thrown in prison," Zhou said sternly.

Baonu paused for a moment and then complied, "Yes malady."

"Good, now tomorrow morning I want everyone to be here so I can give you your next task, ok?" Zhou informed.

Everyone replied with a yes and then left to go to sleep—except for two.

Tigress couldn't help but look at Po and how he looked emotionless.

When they made it back to their room Po walked out onto the balcony.

Tigress decided to give Po some alone time, and laid down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She then began to have a debate in her mind; _I should go and talk to him. No, maybe he needs time to himself. _She then decided that she should go and talk to him, so she got up out of bed and walked out onto the balcony. He was sitting—gazing out into the darkness of night. She didn't look at him, just laid her arms on the railing and gazed out into the darkness as well.

"Tigress, what are you doing?" he asked, sounding harsher than he intended it to be.

"Just getting some fresh air," she lied.

"No, you're here to try and help me," he said.

"Po—," Tigress pleaded but was cut off.

"I don't need your help," he said coldly. "I don't need anyone's help," he added but then his façade crumbled as he said, "I don't want help, I'll just be set up to be hurt when my life changes again."

A confused Tigress then said, "What are you talking about, Po?"

"You wouldn't understand," he said, coldly, but then turned into a sad soft tone, "I'm just a victim of changes."

Tigress felt much pity for the panda and then spoke softly, "Po, what's bothering you?"

Po then said, "That panda is my father. I had just come to peace with myself and now that peace is in pieces."

Tigress felt slightly shocked and then sat down with him as he continued.

"I feel so… lonely. Lonely like a child with no one to talk to," Po said.

At that moment, Tigress no longer saw Po sitting there, but herself— herself as a child. She then asked slightly harsh, "Po, how would you know what that feels like?"

"Because that was me when I was younger, no friends, just me and my thoughts," Po answered.

Tigress then saw herself as a child again, but this time, that child was crying, alone in her room, just wanting someone to talk to—wishing to receive love from her baba. Tigress then snapped out of her memories when Po stood up.

"I'm going to bed. At least in my dreams I won't have to feel the pain of loneliness," he said.

He was about to go inside, when Tigress stopped him by saying, "Po, wait."

Po waited for her to say something, but, instead she hugged him. "Po, I know all too well what that loneliness feels like and I don't wish it on anyone," she said softly and then released him from her embrace. Even though he didn't hug her back, she could see in his eyes that the embrace meant a lot to him. She then left the shocked panda to his thoughts and went to sleep.

Po then felt the loneliness fade away and then his fan boy personality kicked in, _wow, Master__ Tigress just hugged me—again._

**A/N: I kind of have an idea of how Po and Tigress would feel about the whole adoption thing because, my mom was adopted and there is a lot of wondering that comes from it. I have no idea who my mom's real parents are and neither does she-maybe one day we will find out.**

**The next chapter should be the same length, if not, longer than this one. I shall see when I start writing. I am also working on another story, but I will not abandon this one, I promise.**


	10. New Acquaintances

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. I do own the OCs.**

"_Po, get away from him!" Tigress said as she was grabbed by a gorilla. She fought to break free of his grasp as she saw Po talking to Lord Shen. She then saw Shen jump on top of his weapon and light it. She continued to try to break free of the gorilla's grasp and when she did she heard the weapon fire. "Noooooo" she cried and she saw her best friend get blasted by Shen's weapon. The force of the weapon was so powerful that it knocked her onto the ground, unconscious._

Then she woke up, breathing hard and sweating. She could tell by how dark it was that it was still night. She worriedly glanced over across the dark room to where Po was, and saw that he was sound asleep. She let out a sigh and then glanced up at the ceiling. _Why is this still bothering me?_ She thought. She knew that she was not going to fall back asleep, so she just stared at the ceiling—deep in thought—until the Sun rose.

After the Sun began to rise, Po stretched and then sat up at the edge of his bed. Still half asleep, "Mornin' Tigress, you're up early," he said as he rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah," she responded, "I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep."

"I hate when that happens," he said in a tired voice. He then shook himself in an attempt to wake up.

Tigress then stood, "You'd better get ready, Po, because we must meet with Zhou soon."

"OK," he replied and then got himself ready.

* * *

After Po finished getting ready, he and his fellow warriors went to Zhou's room.

Zhou saw the warriors enter the room, "Good morning, warriors. I have your next task. At the boarder there are guards. I believe that they are not on full alert and possibly allowing the Liaos to enter. I need you all to go and secretly observe them. If you see that they are not doing their job right then you send them to me, got it?"

The warriors gave a collective yes and then left. On their way out, Po remembered that Shifu had given him a scroll to master while he was away, he then thought, _Oh no Oh no, I've got to get the scroll. _Po then ran into his room and went into his bag, grabbed the scroll and ran back to the group.

"What's the matter Dragon Warrior," Baonu asked as Po reached the group.

"Oh nothing just had to grab this scroll. Master Shifu wanted me to master it while I'm here," Po said.

Baonu froze when he heard the name Shifu. _**Shifu**__ is their master? _He thought._ I'm going to talk to Zhou later._ He added.

The warriors walked through the town until they reached the boarder.

* * *

Tigress turned to the group and said, "We can observe them from the roves of nearby houses."

The warriors then got into their positions on the rooftops and watched the guards patrol the boarder. They noticed that the guards were on high alert so Po decided to take a look at the next lesson in the scroll.

_Lesson two: Assisting others_

_Help another person achieve inner peace._

Po then noticed that there was a note at the bottom from Shifu.

_Easier said than done, _the note read.

Po also noticed that there was a note at the bottom of the first lesson which read, '_Po, y__ou have already achieved this lesson at Gongmen harbor.'_

Po then gave a sigh of relief, _I'm glad that I only have two lessons instead of three._ Po then began to think of whom he should help achieve inner peace. _Well I think my best choice would be Tigress, I mean, she's always there for me when I need help, so it's the least I could do for her, _Po thought. "Hey, Tigress?" Po tried to get the busy feline's attention.

"Po, now's not the time for talking," Tigress said.

Po quickly quieted himself and joined the group in observing the guards.

After a while, Tigress turned to Baonu and asked, "I think the guards are doing fine, should we return to the palace?"

Baonu agreed, saying, "Yeah, good idea."

As the warriors were heading back, Po stopped as he saw Bianhuren walking down the street. Po then pulled Tigress aside and said; "Hey, I need to talk to my father, he's right there," Po said as he pointed to where the panda was walking, "Can you guys just go ahead without me?"

Tigress looked unsure and said, "I don't know, Po—," Po then cut her off.

"Please, Tigress, I need to clear things up with him," Po begged.

Tigress hesitated for a moment but eventually gave him what he wanted, "Alright, just don't take too long and don't get lost either, got it?"

"I won't, don't worry," Po said and then took off.

As Tigress made it back to her group, she covered for Po saying that he left his scroll back on the roof that they were watching the guards from and that he would catch up with them later.

Po reached his father and said, "Bianhuren, it's me Po."

The panda turned around when he heard the voice, "Po, what are you doing?" Bianhuren asked.

"I was just wondering if we could talk now." Po said.

"I don't see why not," Bianhuren said. "Follow me, we'll talk at my house." He added.

Po agreed and followed him to his house.

Once the Furious Five and Baonu had returned to the palace, they met with Zhou who eagerly said, "Well, what did you find?"

"The guards are fully alert and focused on their job," Tigress informed.

"Good to hear, we will figure this thing out, don't worry. For now you all can just return to your rooms and await your next mission," Zhou informed.

The warriors all bowed and then left for their rooms.

Once the warriors left the room Baonu turned to Zhou and asked, "Malady, forgive me but the Dragon Warrior told me that they have a master named Shifu—is that the same Shifu that we brought here?"

Zhou then got an irritated look on her face and replied, "It is."

"Do they even know that he is here?" Baonu asked.

"No, they do not," Zhou answered.

"What," Baonu yelled in surprise and anger, "What did Shifu do? What if they find out that he is here?"

Zhou then became enraged, "What Shifu did is none of your business, and they _won't_ find out because you are going to keep your mouth shut, or else I _will_ shut it for you—permanently! Now do I make myself clear?"

When Baonu hesitated, Zhou threatened, "Give me a reason Baonu, and I will make your pelt my new carpet! Last chance Baonu; tell me that you will keep your mouth shut."

Baonu clenched his fists and then said, "Yes, malady,"

"Good," Zhou spat out with hatred. "I've kept my eye on you for a while now, and how you have become close to the Dragon Warrior, so I have decided that you can no longer be trusted and that it is time to get some new to take your place in this mission."

"What, who?" Baonu asked.

"Someone who can complete a task, better than any _man_ could," Zhou stated.

"Who?!" Baonu demanded.

Zhou became angry at his demand,"What position are you? I don't care what level of authority you _think_ you have but, you do **not** have the authority to throw out demands at _me_!" Zhou angrily yelled, "The person that will be taking your place is already here—," Zhou was cut off by knocking at the door, "How convenient, that must be them!"

As the door opened three figures entered.

Zhou then opened her arms and announced, "Baonu, Meet... the Wu Sisters!"

* * *

**A/N:Sorry for the short chapter, but that is as long as I wanted the scene to be. Now the story will get intense.**


	11. Frozen

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. I do own the OCs.**

"Meet… The Wu Sisters."

"_What_?!" Baonu exclaimed, "Th—they are criminals!"

"_Criminals_—that's not very nice now is it," Su said sarcastically and with a devious smile.

"Maybe, but they can get the job done," Zhou said.

"And you won't be disappointed," Su remarked.

"Definitely not," Wan and Wing Wu echoed.

"Oh I know I won't," Zhou said.

"How—why are you doing this? What will you do with them once this mission is completed, huh?" Baonu questioned.

"We will go our separate ways," Zhou replied.

"Wait a minute, how did you get them out of prison?" The lynx asked.

"Oh, I hired someone to trick the prison guards into thinking that these girls were to be executed, and that's where the guards think we took them," Zhou informed.

Su then approached Baonu, "Don't feel bad," she mocked, "I know it must be shameful that you could not live up to your name*, but this job is only for true warriors, and true warriors are ruthless, like myself," Su said condescendingly.

Baonu then became enraged but did not act, instead he glared daggers at her.

Su laughed, "Do you think that you can intimidate me?"

Baonu ignored Su's question and focused his attention back to Zhou, "I can't believe that you would stoop so low as to hire criminals. Have you no dignity—no splendor, no morality? Has your job blinded you so much that you would do anything to achieve your goal? Zhou I've known you for twenty years and not once, have you ever acted so—so… corrupted."

Zhou stared at him with a mocking smile, showing that his words did not affect her.

"Zhou, you are acting just like your father did."

Until he said that.

"What did you say!?" Zhou yelled in rage. Even though she herself could not fight, she was still a tiger and there for, could be intimidating—especially when her temper was raging. Plus the fact that she had a terrifying voice when she was angry. She continued, "I am nothing like my father, he was a _good-for-nothing _scoundrel who deserved what came to him! You are stubborn Baonu and just love to get under people's skin."

"No, Zhou, I'm trying to help you-,"

Zhou cut him off, "You are trying to destroy me not help me!"

"That's not true, Zhou—all I have ever wanted to do was help you."

"Well I don't need it—be gone, I need to discuss the mission with my new helpers," Zhou said.

"I'm sorry Zhou—I hope you open your eyes so that you can save yourself _from_ yourself." Baonu said sadly as he proceeded out of the room.

"In this world—the only way to get something done is to lie," Zhou said to Baonu as he left and once he did, she turned her attention back to the Wu Sisters who had not said anything during while her and Baonu were arguing. "Well, let's get straight to business—I need you all to keep your identities a secret. Do not let anyone know that you are here," Zhou informed.

"What about Baonu, he knows that we are here?" Su questioned.

"Don't worry about him, he will keep his mouth closed," Zhou said. "No matter, the real problem here is the Dragon Warrior, I need you to get rid of him, but not now—wait a few days until they have completed the Liaos problem. I have arranged for you all to stay in an inn, in the village, but do not let them know that you are the Wu Sisters! That shouldn't be a problem for you all right? I mean, you _are_ the most notorious villains in all of China, so stealth _shouldn't_ be an issue."

"It won't be a problem at all, but what do you want us to do with the Dragon Warrior, exactly?" Su asked.

"Kill him!" Zhou answered.

The Wu Sisters then got devious smiles, "It will be done, but may I ask why? Aren't you a good guy?" Su asked.

"He stands in my way, just like his master, Shifu."

"I'm curious—I overheard you telling Baonu that "What Shifu did is none of your business"—what _did_ Shifu do?" Su asked.

"Well, I asked him if he would give me his daughter, master Tigress. I want her to live here, and adopt her as my daughter. But the _fool_ refused so I threw him in our dungeon to rot."

"Impressive," Su complimented, "that is ruthless."

"It is what has to be done," Zhou said indifferently. "Now the Dragon Warrior stands in my way—he is her best friend and is the only thing stopping me from achieving my goal."

"Consider it done," Su said. "How will we contact you?"

"I will come to you when I am ready," Zhou replied.

"OK," the Wu Sisters replied and then left Zhou's room.

Zhou walked back to her bamboo desk and then had a flashback

_Her father was sitting on the very throne she was in now and she was sitting on the floor playing with tiny wooden boat. Her mother was there, trying to talk to her father. "Are you coming down to eat dinner soon?" Her mother asked the father._

"_I told you, I must finish this task, it is my job." Her father said._

"_But your daughter hasn't seen you in_ _three days," her mother reasoned._

"_She's right there," the father pointed to where his daughter was sitting. "She can see me now, can't she?"_

"_That's not what I meant," her mother said._

"_I don't care what you meant; I just want you to leave me alone! All of you!" Her father yelled._

"_Fine," her mother said and then picked Zhou up and began to carry her out._

_Zhou began to cry and extended her arms trying to reach her father. Crying, she looked into her angry father's eyes, "Baba," she cried as she was taken out of the room._

Zhou then cursed the memory of her father, saying, "Scum,"

* * *

As all of this was unfolding, Po was talking to his father.

"So, there are a handful of survivors from Shen's genocide, how?" Po asked.

"We fought his men after he had left to chase after you and your mother. We defeated them all, but our village was no more, his men had burnt it to the ground so we had to find another place to live—a more secured place. That place is here, Zhending." Bianhuren said.

"But, how did you know that I was still alive?" Po asked.

"I didn't—not until recently. I had a vision and in that vision a tortoise named Oogway came to me and told me that you were still alive."

"Whoa," Po said.

"I can't believe how well you turned out. Dragon Warrior—wow, that is an amazing accomplishment. So I take it, you live in the Valley of Peace, am I correct?"

"Yes," Po said.

"That is a ways away from here. But anyway, I take it, you were adopted by the master of the Jade Palace am I correct?"

"Well, not exactly," Po said and then told his father his life story.

When Po finished, his father sat back, "Amazing, that definitely proves Oogway's saying "Anything is possible," to be true!"

"It definitely does," Po commented.

An awkward silence then fell upon the two pandas until Bianhuren broke it, "Forgive me if this sounds rude but, your father, Mr. Ping—do you love him?"

"I do, very much—he's a good father." Po said and then changed the subject, "Why don't you move to the valley that way I could see you more often?"

"I don't think I could Po, I mean, I have a clan to take care of. We are all happy living in this city with Zhou anyway."

"Oh, ok—I will try to come and visit you though," Po said.

"That's good to hear, I will look forward to it."

Po then glanced out one of his father's windows and saw the waning gibbous moon begin to rise. "Oh, darn!" Po shouted.

"What, What is it?" his father asked.

"I didn't realize how late it was—I need to get back to the palace, can you show me the way?" he asked.

"Sure," his father replied and then took Po to the palace.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the palace, Tigress paced around her bedroom, periodically glancing into the hallway to check if Po was there, but much to her displeasure, every time she did, he was not there. She then grew nervous, fearing that Po had gotten lost, or worse…

Tigress desperately tried to maintain her composure, but was failing._ Come on Po, where are you?_ She thought frantically. Just when she was about to lose it, Po came walking through the door.

"Sorry I'm late," Po apologized.

"Po," Tigress scolded, "you told me that you wouldn't be late."

"I know, I know, but I just really got into talking with my real dad and lost track of time."

"Po, I understand why you're late, and that's not what is bothering me—what's bothering me is the fact that you made a promise that you knew you couldn't keep."

"I know, but I was just afraid you wouldn't let me go if I told you," Po said.

"I would have, because I can sympathize with you, Po"

"You really would have?" Po asked.

"Of course—I would never stand in the way of you, finding out your origins—that's how you found inner peace."

At the mentioning of inner peace, Po remembered his lesson from Shifu, "Hey, Tigress?"

"Yeah?"

"Um—I was wondering if, I mean if you want to, because you don't have to—"

"Out with it Po!"

"Do you want me to teach you inner peace? I need to teach someone, it is my lesson from master Shifu."

"Why me—you could teach any of the five?"

"Because you're the person who needs it most and—you're my best friend,"

"Really, I'm your _best_ friend?" she said doubtfully.

"You are."

"But—I was so mean to you, and I don't exactly come off as a 'friendly' person."

"Both of those statements are true, _but_, that's what I like about you—and that fact that you almost killed yourself to save me. _That_ is what a true best friend would do."

Tigress took a minute to think about what Po had said. His words touched her, but she still believed that she was a terrible friend.

"Po, you don't have to lie, I know that I'm a terrible friend."

"No you're not!" Po said sternly, "You just don't know _how_ to be a friend. Let me help you—let me teach you inner peace."

Tigress thought about it for a second and then agreed, "Alright, but it won't be easy for either of us."

"Good. We can start right now if you want?"

"Ok," Tigress said.

Po then led her down stairs to the courtyard for a more peaceful setting. It was perfect, the sounds of crickets and moving water in the distance. The sky was clear and the waning gibbous moon was high in the sky providing light for the warriors to see. There were many stars visible and when Tigress glanced up at them she instantly had a pleasant flashback.

_A ten-year-old Tigress and her master Shifu lay in the courtyard gazing up at the clear night sky._

"_Baba," a young tigress said, "Why do the stars form shapes?" _

"_Well, Tigress I don't know why, but I do know that those shapes are called constellations."_

"_Oh," Tigress said, completely enthralled by the sight._

"_That one there is called __Běi Fāng Xuán Wǔ__*, (the Black Tortoise of the North). That one there is called, __Xī Fāng Bái Hǔ__*, (The White Tiger of the West)._

"_Wow, how come you're so smart, baba?"_

"_I studied for a long time. If you study, you will be smart too."_

"_I will baba, I promise._

The promise part seemed to echo in her mind and then Tigress returned to reality and briefly gazed up at the stars, which didn't go unnoticed by Po.

"You like the stars?" Po asked.

"I do—always have."

"They _are_ cool; maybe you can teach me some things about them later."

"I can do that," Tigress responded.

Po and Tigress were about to start the inner peace lesson when the city orchestra began to play a soft melody.

"What a perfect setting for inner peace," Po commented.

"It is, let's begin." Tigress added.

Po then told Tigress what she needed to do, "Alright—first you must empty your mind of all your troubles."

Tigress agreed without protest and attempted to empty her mind.

* * *

The next morning, Baonu entered Po and Tigress' room to inform them that Zhou wanted to see them.

The warriors then traveled to Zhou's room. "Ok," Zhou said, "today I think I may have found out where the Liaos are hiding, the coliseum on the other side of town. Baonu I want you to bring The Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five there—except for Tigress," Zhou then turned her attention to Tigress, "Tigress, I need you to stay here and keep a watch out for any Liaos."

"Yes, malady," the warriors responded and then left.

Baonu then took the warriors through the town and to the coliseum.

"Wow this is a big coliseum!" Po remarked.

"It is, but don't let your guard down. The Liaos could be any—" Baonu said as he realized that they were not alone.

There were about fifty other men there, all dressed identically to Baonu.

"Hello, Baonu," one of the men said.

"What are you doing here? We didn't ask for reinforcements." Baonu said.

"Well Zhou thought that you did." The man said as the gates of the coliseum closed.

Baonu became nervous as the gates closed. "What is this? Why are there so many of you?" he asked.

"Well—" the man said. "I'll let our leaders explain."

By this time, Po, and the Four stood there confused as to what was happening. They could tell that Baonu was on edge, so they were too.

"Oh, no," Baonu said under his breath.

The man stepped aside to let three felines approach the group.

Po eyes widened and he gasped when he saw who the felines were, "_The Wu Sisters!"_ Po exclaimed.

"You must be the Dragon Warrior," Su said.

"Why are _you guys_ here?" Po asked.

"Oh it's very simple you see, Zhou wants us to capture and throw all of you in jail, except you Dragon Warrior, she wants you dead.

Po and his fellow warriors were very confused with the situation.

"It seems that y—" Su began.

"_Silence!_" Baonu roared and pointed his machete at Su's throat.

"Aw, did I upset the wittle kitty?" Su teased as she batted the machete away.

Baonu did not hesitate to make the first move. He sent a powerful and fast-as-lightning strike to the closest of the three felines to him—Wan Wu—in the chest, knocking her out cold.

This drew an angry hiss from Su and she roared, "_Attack!"_

Baonu frantically turned to Po, "Get out of here!" he shouted as four members of the Furious Five charged at Su and her army.

"What, we can handle these guys," Po said.

"No you can't, believe me, I trained them! You need to get back to Tigress, just go!" Baonu commanded.

"But I can't just leave you all to die!" Po countered.

"We won't die; Zhou doesn't want us dead she wants _you_ dead!"

Su then charged at Po with her claws unsheathed; ready to kill.

Baonu then kicked her in the chest, which she quickly recovered from and then began to fight Baonu.

Po then ran to Crane and quickly shouted "Crane, Whirlpool of Justice!"

Crane then flew over to Po who then grabbed on to his legs. The avian began to spin the panda at a high velocity and Po then extended his legs out into a split. Crane descended into a group of warriors and the technique worked. They knocked about ten men out and then Po said, "Crane, I need you to fly me out of the coliseum!"

"What, Why?" Crane asked.

"Baonu told me to go and get back to Tigress!"

Crane didn't wait a second longer; he flew Po up over the coliseum walls and placed him on the streets before flying back into the fight.

Po ran up the streets at break-neck speeds, which was something that seemed impossible for him. He ran like that until he reach Zhou's palace.

Tigress, who was standing near the gates, guarding the palace, saw the panda charging toward her.

"Tigress!" Po yelled.

"What is it Po, what's wrong!" she yelled as he fell to the ground panting.

"There's—*pant*—" he said and then his world went black.

* * *

Hours later Po awoke in his and tigress' room with Tigress eagerly sitting by his side.

Once he fully regained consciousness he darted out of bed frantically yelling, "The others, where are they?"

"They haven't returned yet. Why, is something wrong?"

"Yes, we were attacked by the Wu Sisters and her army!"

"What?!" Tigress yelled, "I've got to tell Zhou!"

"No!" Po said, "She's the one who sent them!"

"What, why would she do that?"

"I'm not sure, but Baonu told me that she wants me dead."

"But wha—" Tigress began but stopped when she heard someone out on their balcony.

She silenced Po and tip-toed her way over to the door. Before she could get there, the doors opened revealing an out-of-breath Baonu. His fur was matted and, well—he looked like the five did after they were beaten by Tai-Lung.

Po ran over to the lynx, "Baonu, you got away, how?"

"They, weren't looking so I took the opportunity to escape—don't worry your friends are alive, but badly beaten. Zhou probably had them thrown in the dungeon with Shifu.

"_Shifu's here?" _Po and Tigress said in unison.

"Yes, and you both need to quickly rescue them and get out of here."

"Wait a minute," Tigress put her hands up, "This is all very confusing explain to us what's going on."

"OK, listen, Zhou is turning corrupt, just like her father did and she wants Tigress to become her daughter and she believes that by getting rid of everybody you love and care for, you'll accept her offer. Zhou used to be a great leader, but she sadly became a victim to corruption, just like her father, but she refuses to believe it. By now, she has probably put a target on your heads. We might be able to throw Zhou in prison, if we can find evidence that she is corrupt. Search her room for any evidence."

"Alright, we will do that." Tigress said.

"Good, I'll try to keep the guards away from you." Baonu said.

"Sounds good, let's go, Po." Tigress said.

"Alright," Po said and then left with Tigress.

* * *

Both warriors ran amongst the shadows remaining undetected by the palace guards. Tigress had no trouble being stealthy, but Po on the other hand…

"Tigress, hold on," Po whispered.

She turned around and gave him a death glare which clearly said 'be quiet.'

"Tigress, I'm not as good at this as y—" He said but was cut off by Tigress' paw covering his muzzle and yanking him into the nearest room.

Po was about to ask what was happening until he saw a group of three guards talking.

"Alright, orders from Zhou are to locate the panda and the tiger and terminate on-sight." One guard informed and the other two replied with a, "Got it," and split up.

Po and Tigress both held their collective breath as they watched from around the corner of the door as the guards split up.

Tigress saw that one of the guards was headed down the hallway towards the room they were in. She then gave Po a signal to be quiet and he nodded his head in understanding. She moved behind the rice paper door and waited—she waited until the footsteps grew louder and louder until they were right at the doorway. Now, Po was out of sight at the time for he was hiding behind a mid-size statue which was large enough to effectively hid his girth.

Tigress waited until she heard the footsteps enter the room and decided to make her move. She came out from behind the door and quickly kicked the guard in the back of the knee. As the guard fell she covered his mouth with her paw to prevent him from making any noise and then struck him in the neck with her free paw, knocking him out cold.

Po stepped out from behind the statue wide-eyed and mouth agape, "That was awesome," he whispered.

"Thanks, now we need to hide him."

"Oh I know," Po whispered, "we can put him behind the statue."

"Alright, let's do it."

After they had hid the guard, they continued to make their way to Zhou's room. They successfully snuck up a stairway and into the hallway with Zhou's room at the end.

Before strolling into the hall, Tigress decided to check and see if there were any guards in the hall first. When she poked her head around the corner she quickly pulled it back.

Po could see that Tigress' face looked troubled and he fearfully whispered, "What is it?"

"There are about twenty guards at her door."

"What, how are we supposed to get in there, then?"

Tigress was about to say something when they saw Baonu come up from behind them. "I have a plan, I'll get them away from the door for you," Baonu whispered.

Before Po and Tigress could even respond, Baonu had already begun to walk down the hallway in plain sight.

"Halt!" one of the guards yelled and Baonu turned around and took off.

Tigress immediately knew what Baonu was doing and she grabbed Po's paw and dragged him back to the room they had entered from. She took him behind a pillar and put her paw over his muzzle.

After a moment Po began to mumble so Tigress squeezed her grip around his muzzle which made Po wince in pain. Tigress continued to cover Po's muzzle as she kept her eyes on the doorway. She then saw Baonu run out and down the stairs, followed by twenty angry guards.

After all the guards had left she released her grip on Po's muzzle.

"Owwww," he said as he massaged his muzzle.

"Come on, we need to get to her room while we have the chance," she said and then began to run.

Po quickly followed until they had made it to the end of the hall and pushed open Zhou's door. Much to their relief, Zhou was not there.

"Alright, Po, search her dressers. I'll check her desk."

"Got it," Po responded.

After a while of searching, the two warriors heard footsteps approaching the room.

Tigress quickly said "Hide," and dove under Zhou's bed with Po.

They waited under the bed and heard Zhou's voice and three other feminine voices enter the room.

'_Oh no, it's Zhou,_' Tigress thought as she listened to their conversation.

"I want that panda and that tiger dealt with!" Zhou yelled in frustration.

"Don't worry, they will be, along with Baonu," a feminine voice replied.

"Remember, I only want the panda dead and the others imprisoned." Zhou said. "I have a map for you, it will show you all of the exits that I want secured here in this palace." Zhou said.

Tigress glanced down and saw that the map was right next to her. Her eyes widened in fear. She had no time to come up with a plan for she saw two tiger feet standing next to the bed. Tigress then saw the feline squat down and reach an arm under the bed. As Tigress saw the arm blindly moving toward her she continued to move back. She laid there with muscles tensed and bated breath as the arm felt around, her paw only inches away from Tigress' face. The moment that felt like an eternity to Tigress finally ended when the arm found the map that it was looking for and left. She released her breath and then heard someone enter the room.

"Malady, it's Baonu, he's here, and running!"

"OK, let's find him," Zhou said and then left with the three other females.

Tigress sighed and then looked at Po. He could tell that that had shaken her up. She quickly brushed off the fear and got out from under the bed followed by Po.

"That was too close," Tigress said, "We need to quickly find evidence and get out."

Tigress' eye was then caught by a piece of paper on Zhou's desk. She picked it up and inspected it. "This is it!" she then showed Po the paper which had a message from Zhou to the Wu Sisters on it.

"Perfect," Po replied.

"We need to leave!" Tigress informed.

"What about the others?"

"They'll be fine for now, we will come back for them, but first we must get this letter to the imperial army! Now all we have to do is get out unseen."

"Gocha."

Just when the warriors were about to leave, a group of guards walked through the door and saw the two warriors standing by Zhou's desk. _"Get them!" _one of the guards yelled.

'_Oh no,'_ Tigress thought and then got into a battle stance along with Po.

* * *

* Baonu means wrathful one.

* The Black Tortoise of the North is present day Aquarius

* The White Tiger of the West is present day Orion

* * *

**A/N:Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and support, the next chapter will be up soon.**


	12. Origin

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. I do own the OCs.**

"_Run!_" Tigress yelled.

"We won't make it, there are too many!" Po said.

"Well we will have to force are way through, then!"

"You can't be serious!" Po said.

"I am, now let's go!"

With that Tigress grabbed Po's hands and they both performed a dual technique, successfully knocking out seven guards. The two warriors then broke their connection and fought individually. Tigress took on three warriors at once, striking one in the temple, kicking another in the chest and grabbing the last one's arm as he tried to hit her and bending it backwards making him fall to his knees. She then hit him in the upper spine with her elbow, knocking him out.

Po faced two at once. Due to his size he was able to grab both of their heads and bash them together. He then punched both in the face, knocking them out.

With all of the attackers out for the moment Tigress told Po to follow her as she ran down the hallway and to the staircase. "We will need to run as fast as we can in order to get out of her, understand?"

"I do," Po responded.

"Alright on three,"

"One,"

"Two,"

"Three,"

The warriors then ran like there was no tomorrow, the guards spotted them running and charged after them, with their weapons drawn. The warriors eventually made it to a balcony.

"We're cornered!" Tigress shouted while scanning her surroundings for a possible escape.

Before the soldiers charged at them, three felines walked through and stopped just before the balcony door, "Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," Su teased.

Neither Po nor Tigress responded causing Su to become slightly irritated.

"You have no choice but to surrender." Su said.

"I would rather die!" Tigress spat.

"That can be arranged," Su smirked deviously. "Get them," she commanded and the guards stepped towards the panda and tiger.

At that moment, Tigress grabbed Po's hands and threw him off the balcony and onto the one below before doing the same.

Po landed with a loud thud and then Tigress, almost silently, landed beside him. Without hesitation, both warriors took off in to the palace.

On the floor above, Su growled and chastised the soldiers, "You fools, get them!"

Po and Tigress ran fast, avoiding all contact with the enemies. They eventually made it to the ground floor and Po was about to stroll out of the front doors when Tigress stopped him. "Don't use the front door you will be cut down in a matter of seconds, we will find a way out through the back!"

Po nodded his head and followed her.

They ran until they reached the back wall, "We'll have to break through it," Tigress said.

"_Break through it_, _how?_"

Tigress thought for a moment and then turned to Po, "Po, can you use your inner peace technique to find a weak spot in the wall?"

"Uh, I'm not sure."

"Try it."

"Alright," Po said and then walked towards the wall and got into his inner peace stance. _Inner peace,_ he thought as his hands gracefully felt the wall. After a moment, Po's right hand stopped and then struck and created a hole in it the size of Po's head.

"_Awesome_," Po said.

"Excellent," Tigress said and then helped Po break away more of the wall.

Once they had made a hole big enough for the two of them to fit through, they proceeded to the back wall of the courtyard.

"How are we supposed to climb that?" Po asked staring up at the four-story wall.

"Like _this!_ She said as she lifted the panda and threw him up to a stone that was jutting out. Luckily Po grabbed it and not a second later Tigress was right next to him. "How did you get up here so fast?" he asked.

"My claws allow me to get a good grip on the rocks, now let's go!"

Po looked up and saw that he had a ways to climb. "Tigress, I don't know if I can do this."

"Po, just keep moving, you'll make it." Tigress reassured.

After about ten minutes of climbing, Tigress had made it to the top and Po was right behind her.

"Now we have to begin our descent," she informed.

"Great," Po said as he grabbed the last rock, but pulled it right out of the wall. Po lost his balance and began to fall backwards. At that moment, Po thought that he had met his doom, until he suddenly stopped falling. He opened his eyes to see why and he saw Tigress' hand gripping his paw. Suddenly she hoisted him up onto the walkway.

"You need to be more careful," she said.

"I know, I know—thanks."

"Well, I couldn't let you die now," she said with a small smirk. "Come on, we need to keep moving until we are out of the city."

"Got it, let's go, _wait!"_

"What, Po?"

"Let's use this rope to get down," Po said as he saw a long rope coiled up next to a crate.

"Good idea, I'll lower you down."

Tigress picked up the rope and dropped down enough of it to reach the ground from their height. Po then grabbed the rope and began his descent and Tigress kept a firm grip on it. Holding a rope with a two hundred and ninety pound panda on it was no easy task and Tigress was feeling it in her shoulders, _I have no problem picking him up, but holing this weight for a long period of time takes its toll, _Tigress thought. She was relieved when she felt the rope become weightless and saw that Po had made it to the ground. She then threw the rest of the rope off of the wall and onto the ground to cover their tracks. Tigress then began her descent on the walls.

Before Po knew it, Tigress had reached the ground. "That was fast," Po said surprised.

"We're not done yet, we still have to get out of the city."

"Alright, how do we get out," Po asked.

"The closest exit is the east gate; it should take no more than 10 minutes to reach."

"Okay, let's go,"

"Po, we can't just run through the city streets, we need to stay hidden."

"Oh, I see, we'll travel on the roof tops."

"Yes, now let's go."

The two warriors jumped from roof top to roof top until they reached the east gate, fortunately there were no guards at it, because they all were currently stationed near the palace and the Liao border. The warriors took the opportunity and jumped off of the roof, onto the ground, then ran out of the city and into a nearby forest.

After the warriors had run deep into the forest, they decided that they were safe to stop and rest.

"What now," Po asked.

"We find the imperial army and give them the evidence we—, wh—where did it go? I—" Tigress then came in to a solemn realization. "I left it on Zhou's desk, curses how could I be so careless!" Tigress chastised herself.

"Tigress, it's alright—"

"No it's not!" she growled.

"Fine, things are bad, but there's nothing that we can do about it now. We are just going to have to come up with another plan!" he yelled to get her calmed down. He would have slapped her, but he wasn't quite ready to die.

Tigress calmed down and agreed, "You're right, apologies for the outburst."

"Naw, you're fine, right now we need to come up with a plan."

"Right, well, the only option we have left is to break in to the palace and rescue the rest of the group and master Shifu."

Tigress was about to say something else until she heard footsteps in the distance coming towards them.

"Do you think it's a guard?" Po asked.

"I doubt it, but we had better hide just in case."

The two warriors then walked off of the path and behind a tree. They watched the direction in which the footsteps were emanating from. They grew closer and closer until a figure became visible in the distance. As the figure became clearer, the warriors realized that it was a tiger. The warriors feared that it was Zhou, but as it got closer they realized that it was a male tiger.

The tiger was holding a lantern and was dressed in average peasant clothing.

Po and Tigress both decided that the tiger was not a threat and revealed themselves from behind their hiding spot.

The tiger jumped when he saw the two warriors come out from behind the trees.

"Wha—what are you doing, are you here to rob me?" the frightened tiger asked.

"No," Tigress responded. "Who are you, and why are you so far outside of the city?"

"I'm Bao, and I don't live in Zhending, I live in a village on the outskirts of it."

"Can you take us to this village?" Tigress asked.

"Sure," Bao replied and showed them the way to the village.

* * *

"This village, have you always lived there?" Tigress asked.

"No, I used to live in Zhending but, decided to leave."

"What made you decide to leave?"

"I didn't like the way it was being run."

Po noticed that Tigress was being friendly to him,Which was unnatural for her. _Does she like him? Why would she like him? I mean he's pretty handsome and muscular._ Po mentally slapped himself, _what am I getting upset about I mean if she's my friend then I should be happy for her, but why does it bother me?_ Po thought.

Tigress was naturally attracted to the tiger, and didn't realize that she was walking very close to him.

Po coughed in an effort to break them apart.

Tigress then realized how close she was to the tiger and backed off, "Apologies."

"No need to apologize, you're fine," Bao said.

Po decided to break the awkward moment with a question, "So, how far away is this village?"

"We should be there in about five minutes."

"How many people live in this village?" Tigress asked.

"Not too many, it's very small, but it suffices our needs. I'm sorry but I did not catch your names."

"Oh, apologies—I am master Tigress."

"And I am Po, the Dragon Warrior."

Bao's eyes widened when he realized who they were, he bowed "It is an honor to be in your presents, oh great warriors."

Bao was about to say something until he realized that they had reached the village.

Tigress' eyes widened, not at the village, but at its inhabitants. "They're all tigers."

"Yeah, oh and Tigress I think there is someone who wants to see you."

Bao led Tigress to a small house and knocked on the door. After a moment it opened and revealed a beautiful middle-aged tigress, "Oh, hello Bao, who are your guests here?"

"That is Po the Dragon Warrior and this is Master Tigress of the Furious Five."

The tigress went wide eyed at the names, "Tigress of the Jade Palace in the Valley of Peace—orphaned at birth?"

Tigress became confused, but replied, "Yes."

The tigress then covered her face with her hands and began to cry.

Tigress was about to ask if she was alright, but was suddenly embraced by her.

"Tigress, it's you. My daughter has returned."

Tigress froze in shock and then the tigress released her embrace. Still crying, she said, "I thought I would never see you again, how did you know to find me here?"

"I—I didn't, we were on a mission in Zhending, but it went bad and we ran into the forest and bumped into, Bao and he led us here. Am I really your daughter?"

"You are, I would have contacted you, but our village does not have a messenger and I would not be able to survive the journey there."

"Then how _did_ I get to Bao Gu, and why?"

"Well, we used to live in Zhending until the ruler was murdered by his son. Everyone hated tigers after that and it drove us out of the city. The imperial guards ordered all tiger infants to be killed, and at that point you had just been born—we couldn't let you be killed, so we gave you to a friend of ours and had him take you to Bao Gu, where the tigers were not being prosecuted. I am glad to see that you have done well in your life, you make me proud."

Tigress closed her eyes tight, but didn't cry, instead she embraced her mother.

"Tigress, I think your father would like to see you too."

Tigress' eyes widened yet again, "My father?"

"Yes, my name is Xui-Xue, by the way." She then turned around and called into the house, "Tai-Qiang, come here."

After a moment a muscular middle-aged tiger, slightly taller than Tigress, came to the door. He saw the guests, and asked, "Ah, who might you all be?"

Xui-Xue then said, "That is the Dragon Warrior Po and this—" she sobbed, "This is our daughter, Tigress."

Her father then went wide-eyed and then looked Tigress in the eyes and asked, "Our daughter has returned?"

When Tigress nodded her head in confirmation, her father embraced her. "So long, have I waited for this moment and so long, have I feared it would never come." He released his embrace, "So, you've done well for yourself, you're the leader of the Furious Five. We must be the proudest parents in China. Of course, we would be proud of you no matter what."

"Why don't you come in, it's raining and would be better to warm up by a fire."

Tigress allowed herself a small smile, "That would be nice," she said.

All-the-while, Po thought, _Wow, Tigress hasn't even cried, man if that was me, I'd be in a river._

Po's train of thought was broken when Tigress' father made his way over to him, "Forgive us for neglecting you, it is good to finally meet you," Tai-Qiang said as he extend his open paw toward Po.

Po grabbed it and shook it, "It is nice to meet you too, and don't worry about it, you finally got to see your daughter again, I would have done the same thing."

"Good to know, well come inside, I'm sure we all have much to catch up on." Tai-Qiang said.

Po agreed and followed all the tigers into the house. At first Po felt like an outsider, being the only panda in an all tiger village, but due to their hospitality, he eventually felt comfortable.

* * *

Back at Zhou's residence, three angry felines entered their "boss'" room to inform her of their current mission's status.

"Zhou—," Su was cut off.

"You _will_ address me as malady! Don't think that because you are criminals, you don't have to show me respect! Push my patience, and I _will_ have all of you beheaded! _Is_ that understood?!" Zhou demanded.

The alpha personality of Su was enraged at being scolded, but the intelligent side forbade her from showing it. She swallowed her pride, "Yes—malady."

"Good," Zhou said satisfied, "Now what is the status of our mission?"

"The Dragon Warrior and the tiger escaped and presumably fled the city."

"Fools," Zhou yelled in rage, "I hired you all because I thought you were the best in the business, I guess you villains are not as good as your reputations have led on!"

Enraged at the insult, Su decided to make a remark, "Better than your palace guards."

"_Excuse me?!_" Zhou said dangerously. "I would be careful if I were you, because you have nowhere to run, I'm the only person that can keep you out of jail, and can _throw_ you into it faster than lightning, remember that, now back to business, what do you know of Baonu's status?"

Su held back a growl, knowing that Zhou was right, "He escaped also; he is working with the panda and tiger. Do you want us to kill him as well?" Su asked.

"No, Baonu is just a thorn in the bush of success and _can_ be avoided, but The Dragon Warrior and master Tigress are a plague that must be terminated in order to _save_ the bush." Zhou said.

"How do you suppose we find them?" Su asked.

"We must draw them in."

"How?" Su asked.

"Arrest every panda in the city, and then travel to the tiger village on the outside of town and arrest them as well. Then we will play a little game with the panda and tiger; first, tell them that we have their kin as prisoners—second, tell them that only one of their kin will be released and the other will be executed. We tell them that they decide which kin gets to be set free. They will tear each other apart."

"What if they resist?" Su asked.

"I'm not messing around here, so kill any and all who resist."

"Why would you do this—I mean, we love it, but you don't seem like that kind of person." Su said.

"I want to see that panda's innocence taken away. How can a person be _so happy_ in life?" she said as if it were morally wrong, "I will show him, I'll rip it away from him."

* * *

After a while, Tigress left her parent's house to go find, Po. Without much searching, she found him sitting by himself on a tree stump. She went over to him, "Po, why did you leave, are you alright?"

"I needed to think," his tone sounded sad.

"About?"

"You have the best parents a person could have, they are so proud of you. But me—I only have a father. I guess seeing your mother made me wish I could see my real mother again" he paused but then quietly continued, "But that will never happen."

He stood up from the tree stump and began to walk away, but was stopped when Tigress embraced him tightly. "Po, I wish I could ease your pain and I will do _anything_ to help, I promise."

Po then returned her embrace, "That's good to know Tigress, thank you, it's just that, my life feels incomplete.

Tigress then broke the embrace and looked at him in the eyes, "Po, I will do anything to help, I am never going to abandon you, I swear that as long as I live, I will always be there for you. You're my best friend and nothing will ever change that."

"Thank you Tigress you're my best friend too and I will never abandon you either."

"Good, by-the-way, Bao said that he has an extra room in his house for you to stay. Tomorrow we will come up with a plan to rescue the Furious Five and Shifu and you can continue to teach me inner peace as well."

"Sounds good, goodnight, Tigress."

"Goodnight, Po." Tigress said and then turned around to leave.

* * *

After Po had made it back to Bao's house, the tiger offered Po dinner, which he graciously accepted.

"So, Po is it?" Bao asked.

Po nodded with his mouth full.

"Your friend there, master Tigress, she is a pretty woman isn't she?"

"Yeah and I see that you've become fond of her lately," Po said rather coldly.

"I'm sorry?"

"Listen here, master Tigress is a great women and an excellent friend so she deserves to be treated with respect." Po said sternly.

"Of course, I would never treat her badly—I think I'm going to ask her out tomorrow." Bao said.

Po did not comment on that for he felt uneasy about it, "Thank you for the dinner Bao, can you show me where I will be sleeping?"

"Yes, yes of course."

Bao led Po to a small room with a bed, "Sorry about the size, we don't usually get visitors."

"It's fine," Po remarked and then entered the room.

"Okay, well goodnight," Bao said as he left.

"Goodnight," Po replied.

About an hour later, Po was lying in bed thinking, _Why am I not happy with this tiger being in love with Tigress, I mean she's smart, strong, beautiful—, wait, what—what am I thinking?_ Po then began to think about Tigress' beauty and realized just how beautiful she was,_ she is beautiful, _he thought and then it dawned upon him,_ I know why it bothers me... I am in love with her._

Po laid still in shock, _I can't believe I'm in love with master Tigress of the Furious Five, I mean I had a crush on her when I was younger, but now—now that crush has turned into love. It makes sense I mean I have always had a crush on her; she is my best friend and the most important person in my life. What am I going to do, I **highly** doubt__ that she would like me back, she likes Bao. Ugh, why did I realize this __**now**__, well it's too late, there's nothing I can do, Bao is going to ask her out tomorrow_. With a sigh, Po made his decision, _I can at least tell her how I feel so she'll at least know_. With that last thought, Po closed his eyes and drifted into dreamland.

* * *

**A/N:What will Po do, and will we ever see Shifu again? You'll have to wait until next time to see.**


	13. I Need You to Know

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. I do own the OCs.**

Tired and heavy eyes opened and frantically scanned their surroundings. The eyes then made their way over to a sleeping fox and then he realized where he was. "That's right, I'm in a prison cell," Shifu whispered with a small sigh. He then stood up and walked over to the cell door to see if there were any guards in the hall. When he reached the doors, he saw four familiar creatures in the cell directly across. He wiped his eyes; _do my eyes deceive me, because I could swear that my students are directly across from me._ After Shifu had wiped his eyes and looked again, he saw that his eyes did not lie. He saw Viper, Crane, Monkey and Mantis, but no Tigress nor Po. He called their names to wake them up.

One by one, the warriors opened their eyes and focused them on Shifu. In unison they all exclaimed, "_Master__?_"

Viper was the only one to ask him a question, "Master, why are you here?"

"That's a good question, why are _you_ here, where are Po and Tigress?"

"We were captured, but Po escaped and Tigress was off on another mission."

"Who captured you?" Shifu asked.

"Zhou."

At that moment, Shifu finally pieced together the puzzle. _Now it makes sense, I denied her my daughter so she imprisons me. _

Viper noticed that her master seemed to be in deep thought, "Master, is everything alright?"

"Hm—yes, just thinking of an escape plan," he lied.

Just then they heard footsteps coming down the hallway, it was Baonu.

Shifu then became defensive, "Hurt me if you wish, but not my students."

"Calm down, I'm not her to hurt anyone," Baonu said.

"Sorry, but you'll have to do better than that if you wish to trick us," Shifu retorted.

"Listen, I owe you an apology," Baonu said as got down to Shifu's height.

"An _apology_—what is this? Do you like mentally torturing your victims?"

"No, Shifu, I really came to apologize."

"Okay fine, what is it you came to apologize for?" he said still not trusting the lynx.

"Well, I didn't mean to cause you all of the trouble that I did—"Shifu cut him off.

"Really? Because you certainly seemed to enjoy it."

"That's because I thought you were a criminal, I was simply following orders from my superior, Zhou. She didn't tell my _why_ you were being arrested or _who_ you were."

Shifu considered this, but then refused, "Sorry, but I'm no fool. If you want to kill me then just do it."

Now the four warriors joined the conversation.

"What is going on?" Viper asked.

"This man here," he pointed to Baonu, "is trying to trick us, probably to get information on where Tigress and Po are."

"I am doing no such thing!" Baonu snapped, his temper rising.

"Then why are you here?" Shifu asked.

"I'm here, because I wanted to apologize to you, but you're not listening!"

"You expect me to believe that _you,_" he angrily pointed a finger at him, "Would just betray your superior?"

"I can't follow under her rule any longer it's tearing me asunder!" he said in a distressed tone, "She use to be a prominent leader, one that I could respect working for. But she has since turned corrupt, just like her father. She has become so engrossed with _her_ needs, that she has fired me and hired _**Criminals**_!" he said putting much hatred into the Criminal part. "She has hired the Wu Sisters to gain Tigress as a daughter. She has completely forgotten about the whole Liao problem."

Shifu considered this and hesitantly replied, "How can I be sure that you are telling the truth?

"Well, it is your only option if you want to save your daughter." Baonu replied.

Shifu thought about it and then Viper spoke up.

"Master," she said and then both he and Baonu turned to face her, "Not that it's any of my business, but, I think you should trust him, I mean we worked with him, and when Zhou turned on us she turned on him too—he fought with us."

Shifu then finally gave in, "Alright, what do we do now then?"

Baonu thought for a moment, "Well, The Dragon Warrior and Tigress will come back to try and save you all, so—" he was cut off by a voice from down the hall.

"_It's Baonu, get him!" _

Instantly the Wu Sister all attacked him. He kept them off of him for a few minutes, but was overpowered and then bound by the three of them.

Another person then entered the hallway, "Well, well, now I thought that you knew better Baonu," Zhou said as she grabbed his chin and then lightly shook it.

Baonu stared at her with a half-angry, half-sad expression.

for only a second, the stare made Zhou feel guilty, but she quickly regained her evil smirk and turned her attention to Shifu. "_You!_" she spat. "You refused me your daughter!"

"You _cannot_ have her!"

"Why must you be so stubborn, I'm a tiger and so is she, you—you're a red panda!"

"That does not matter! What matters is that you love the child!"

"You think that you are _so_ clever don't you? Well she thinks that you are dead so she'll have no choice—" Baonu cut her off.

"Too bad for you Zhou, I told the Dragon Warrior and master Tigress that you were keeping them as prisoner."

"_What," _Zhou roared, "You are an imbecile Baonu and a pest..." she paused for a moment before a smile crept onto her face, "...But I'll tell you what, I'll let you go so that you can try and rebel with those two warriors. When you see them tell them this," Zhou then whispered something in his ear which caused Baonu's eyes to go wide, she then ordered the Wu Sisters to take him out of the building. She then refocused her attention on Shifu, "You could have saved her, Shifu, but now you must watch her _die_!" Zhou then left without waiting for a response.

Shifu slumped back against the stone wall and sighed, '_This is my fault,' _he thought in shame.

* * *

Back in the tiger village, Po awoke to the sound of rain pouring on the roof. He sighed, _today is the day I tell her._

He then got out of bed and got ready for the day.

Once he was finished, he went out of his room and into the kitchen. Bao was there and greeted him, "Ah, Dragon Warrior, can I get you something to eat?"

"Sure," Po responded.

"What do you want?"

"Uh, do you have any Bean Buns?"

"Yeah, just let me get them."

Po sat down and thought long and hard about what he was going to tell Tigress._ Okay I will just tell her and get it over with._

Bao then placed a tray of Bean Buns on the table and Po did not hesitate to dig in.

* * *

Once he had finished his breakfast he remembered that he was supposed to develop a plan with Tigress and teach her inner peace. He stood up and bid Bao a farewell and then left.

Tigress was busy eating breakfast with her parents.

"So, Tigress," her father began, "is there anyone... _special..._ in your life?"

Tigress knew what he was implying, "No, not yet at least, maybe someday."

"That special man _will_ come around someday," Her mother added.

"So, your foster father, when do we get to meet him?" her father asked.

"Oh, well—that's what I need to talk about. You see we were here on a mission, but it turns out that Zhou has turned psychotic and captured my group and my master."

"That's horrible to hear, but we already knew that Zhou was psychotic because her brother told us," her mother said.

"Brother?" Tigress said confused.

"Yes, Bao is her brother." Her father said.

"Wait, I thought that her brother ran away after his father was assassinated?"

"No," her father began, "Zhou made that up—he grew up with her and gave her the throne because he saw what it had done to his father. After a while, Zhou threw him out of the palace because she feared that he stood in her way."

"Interesting, I will have to talk to Bao about this... As much as I would love to stay here, I have to go and create a plan to infiltrate her palace and rescue my group." Tigress said.

"Alright, honey, but come back when it is all over, maybe we could move to the Valley of Peace." Her mother said.

"Alright, I will," Tigress said and then embraced her parents and then left.

Tigress then proceeded to Bao's house. She knocked on the door and then waited for someone to answer. The door opened revealing the tiger.

"Master Tigress, how may I help you?"

"You can tell me about Zhou, since you're her brother and all."

Bao sighed, "You're parents told you?"

She nodded.

"Well, might as well tell the Dragon Warrior too."

The two tigers then walked over to a tree stump where Po was sitting, "Po," Tigress began, "Bao here, is Zhou's brother."

"Whoa, really?" Po questioned.

"Yes," Bao replied, "I can help you bring her down."

At this moment the two tigers took a seat and Bao continued, "She is not evil, but corrupt. If you wish to bring her down you must confront her corruption and relate it to that of her father's. Just... promise me you won't kill her okay?"

"As long as she does not force us to, well, thank you for the information Bao," Tigress said.

"No problem," Bao responded and then left.

"Okay, Tigress, ready to learn inner peace?" Po asked.

"I guess so," She responded.

"Alright, well first try to empty your mind."

"Po, that's not going to work."

"Well, then try thinking of something that bring peace to you and then only think of that thing. Now relax and try that for a few hours."

Though doubtful, Tigress agreed and then closed her eyes.

Hours later, Tigress opened her eyes and saw that Po had fallen asleep. She nudged him and he jumped up, "Oh, hey Tigress, how'd it go?"

"Well, I did not find it, but I think I'm getting closer."

"That's the spirit."

"Okay, now can we create a plan?"

"Well..."

"What is it Po?"

"Well, I was wondering if I could _maaaybe_ get something to eat first?"

Tigress sighed, "Hurry."

"Thanks, I'll be faster than lightning," he then ran off.

Seeing that she was alone, Bao approached Tigress, "Hello, Tigress."

"Hello, Bao, what brings you here?"

"Well, I need to tell you something—I really like you and wanted to ask you out, but—I realized that someone loves you more than I ever could."

Tigress was shocked at first but regained her composure and asked, "Who?"

"I can't say, but he will come to you when he is ready." Bao said then bid her a farewell and left. _Po, please take good care of her, she deserves it,_he mentally hoped.

_I wonder who this man is, that he was talking about, _Tigress thought.

"Tigress! Ready to make that plan?" Po asked walking towards her.

"Yes Po, I am, are _you_?"

"Yeah," _Okay just tell her, you can do it. But, what if it ruins our friendship. Well, I am not keeping any secrets from her._ with that thought, Po sat down next to her.

He sighed "Tigress, there is something I need to tell you."

She stood there waiting.

"I—I—"

"Out with it Po."

"I wanted you to know that I—" he was interrupted by the sound of yelling.

The two warriors then rushed over to see what all the commotion was. When they got there they saw what looked like an army all dressed in uniform, taking tigers out of their homes.

With a growl, Tigress ran towards them.

"Tigress, wait!" Po yelled in an attempt to stop her.

The enraged tiger ignored him and continued to charge at the army.

Po was about to run after her when the Wu Sister appeared behind him.

"Dragon Warrior," Su said.

Po spun around and came face-to-face with them. "_You_," Po said distastefully.

"You are a difficult one to catch," Su said.

"What should we do with him, sister?" Wan asked.

"Yeah, we can't go easy on someone whom has caused us _this_ much trouble," Wing commented.

"I think that we should _play_ with our prey," Su offered with a devious smirk.

All in unison, the sister unsheathed their claws.

Po gulped and jumped into a battle stance.

Su then stopped for a moment and appeared to be in thought, "No," she said.

Po became confused, "_No_, what do you mean, _no_?" before he could regain his thoughts he felt a sharp pain in his head and then everything faded to black.

* * *

Po awoke sometime later with a tremendous headache, _'what happened? Last I knew I was standing face-to-face with the Wu Sisters and then, nothing.'_ His thoughts were interrupted by the realization that Tigress was nowhere to be found. "Tigress, Tigress!" he called, but received no answer.

He then slumped against a house and slid to the ground, "No, _no!_ Tigress I'm so sorry, I failed you!" He sat there for awhile, moping over his friend. "Who am I?" he began to question himself, "I am nothing—worthless. Everyone I care for is _gone _and it is all _my fault!"_ He felt like he deserved to die. "Maybe their lives would have been better if I had never been chosen as Dragon Warrior. Maybe my dad was right. If I had never been chosen then—"

"Then all of your friends would have perished," Baonu finished his sentence for him.

"Baonu, how did you get out?" Po asked, shocked.

"No time, we must quickly develop a plan if you wish to save your friends."

"Have you seen them, are they okay?"

"They're fine, for now, but I can't promise that for long."

"Okay, let's get planning."

* * *

In Zhou's palace, Tigress awoke in a dark prison cell with two other occupants. At first she couldn't make them out, but after a moment she saw that one of them was her master, Shifu and the other was a fox. "Master, master," Tigress lightly shook the sleeping red panda.

Shifu awoke and for a moment, thought he was seeing things, "Tigress, is that you?" he asked.

"Yes it's me."

Shifu sat up fast and looked at her, "Oh, Tigress I am glad to see that you're alright."

Tigress, whom was confused by his remark, responded, "You are?"

"Don't be foolish Tigress, of course I am? But that aside, where did you go? How did you get caught?"

"I was in a village—" she stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, preparing herself to tell him about her birth parents.

Shifu noticed her struggle, "Tigress is everything alright?"

"Well, there is something I must tell you—I met my birth parents in that village and they are really nice people who still love me,"

Shifu now felt sick, _'I am too late, I cannot gain her as a daughter now,'_ "I suppose that if we survive this then you would be moving here to live closer to your parents? And I would be losing another child," he said the last part just above a whisper.

Tigress heard him, "Master, what do you mean, do you not want me to go?"

"Tigress, all I want is for you to be happy." He then sighed, "Tigress there is something that _I _must tell you—I know that I have been the worst a father can be, but, I wan—need you to know—that I still love you and that I'm sorry for failing you."

Tigress did not know how to handle this much emotion at once. She got a lump in her throat and got closer to Shifu, "You didn't fail me—you've taught me kung-fu—" she was cut off.

"No, Tigress I did fail you—Where's the happiness, the joy, the laughter—you don't have any of that because I took it from you—me, the grumpy old master, who ruined his daughter's life because of his own selfishness!" He said not facing her.

This brought Tigress horrible memories from her childhood and she then clenched her fists and let out a silent growl.

"Please," Shifu began, still not facing her, "I have hurt so many people in my life that I can no longer love—please, just finish me off, that way I cannot further damage anyone's lives."

Tigress' contorted face melted into a sympathetic one and then all of her anger was gone and she felt his pain.

"Tigress, I am the boulder tied around your feet, cut me off and you can finally be free."

"NO!" she roared. "Master, you were the only one that saw me as a little girl and not a monster! You might not have shown me much compassion, but that's not your fault, you had just been betrayed by a son whom you gave so much love. You were just afraid of failing me because your heart was already damaged by Tai-lung. You were just doing what you thought was right. The truth is, you saved my from that orphanage, who knows what would have happened to me if you had not adopted me. So no, I will not cut that boulder off because I love it—I love _you_, baba."

Shifu heart was then stuck with many emotions at once; he turned around slowly to face her. He faced her with sensitive eyes, "Do you really?"

"Of course I do," she responded in a softer tone.

A smile spread across his face as his eyes began to glisten with years of unshed tears. "That's good to know," he said as one strolled down his face.

She then took a brave stand and embraced her foster father. "No matter what, you will always be my father and I will never leave you."

He responded by returning the embrace—something he has not done since Tai-Lung was a child.

The entire time, the Furious Five were watching their display of emotions and Viper was sobbing at the happy scene.

After a moment they separated from the embrace, "I hate to end the happiness, but where is Po?" Shifu asked.

_Po_, she gravely thought as she fell to her knees. "No, no, _no, _I failed him, I ran off and left him alone, and I knew they wanted to kill him."

"Slow down, what are you talking about?" Shifu said.

Before Tigress could say anything, they heard a door open and footsteps enter. Zhou and many guards appeared in front of the doors.

"Zhou," Tigress yelled, "Where is Po?" she demanded.

"The panda is still alive, and will try to come and save you. But his endeavor will cost him his life."

"You won't get away with this Zhou," Tigress said.

"How cliché, do try and think of something more clever. Anyway, Tigress, you will be coming with me to a different cell."

"You'll have to get me there first." Tigress said dangerously.

"As you wish," she then snapped her fingers* and guards armed with bamboo sticks filled the cell and began to attack her. She held them back for a little while, but was eventually overtaken and subdued. Shifu tried to help, but he was still too weak from his fight with Baonu. He was smack right where Baonu had delivered the final blow; Shifu doubled over in pain and could only watch as they took his daughter from him.

* * *

***Not sure if that would work, but hey, if the animals can talk and do kung-fu, then a tiger can snap their fingers.**

**A/N: I am leaving this Saturday, August 10th, to go on vacation. I will be gone for a week, so the next chapter won't be up for probably two weeks. Forgive me for the inconvenience.**

**On another, completely unrelated note, my favorite TV show, Breaking Bad returns for its final run, which makes me sad, because I have been watching the show for years, but anyway, that show is seriously good, so dramatic and Bryan Cranston's acting is flawless. I really do hope he voices the main antagonist in Kung Fu Panda 3. If you haven't seen the show, I highly recommend that you do, it is violent at times, but nonetheless, amazing. **


	14. The Plan

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. The OCs are mine though.**

**A/N: I'm back, sorry for the long wait.**

** VolleyballGirl09- Thanks, I _did_ have fun on my vacation!**

"Alright—first, we must find a way inside, obviously, but we don't want to take the obvious path, are you following me?" Baonu asked.

Po nodded his head in confirmation.

"Where could you enter that they wouldn't expect?"

"Um…" Po began but trailed off, still thinking about his friends.

Baonu saw Po's struggle, "Listen, if you want to save them then we have to make a plan. Knowing Zhou, every minute that we waste she could be executing them, so the faster we make the plan. The more lives you can save, now come on it is your duty as Dragon Warrior, we must prevent a perennial tyranny."

"You're right, it is my duty," Po said confidently.

"Good, now let's continue, think creatively, where could you enter that they wouldn't expect?"

"Well—what about a window or balcony?" Po offered.

"You don't think that they will have the balconies heavily guarded?" Baonu said in an, 'are you serious' tone.

"Okay, you're right…" Po thought for a moment, "Maybe we could enter from underground, is there an underground level?"

"There is, we will have to dig to reach it though, and the walls are made of stone."

"How far down will we have to dig?"

"We dig until we reach the bottom of the patterned stones; it is not too far down."

"Okay, then what?"

"From there we must go up; the dungeon is very large, it expands to the walls surrounding the palace. The west wall is closest to the palace so we will dig there."

"Excellent. So are the Five and Shifu there, in the dungeon?"

"I doubt it; Zhou's probably keeping them on the upper floors."

"Wait," Po began, "why would Zhou keep them on the upper floors and not in a cell?"

"She has more cells on the upper floors you know."

"Okay, where are they?"

"They are on the top floor."

"How will we reach them?"

"Well," Baonu began, "We will stay together until we exit the dungeon, then we split up and then meet at the top floor."

"What about the Wu Sisters and Zhou's guards?"

"There will be many guards, which will increase as we get closer to the top floor—as for the Wu Sisters, they are probably with Zhou, but they could be anywhere in the palace. If you _do_ run into the Wu Sisters though, you are not to fight them, do you understand? They are lethal and besides, your mission is to rescue your team."

"Okay, can we create a distraction to draw the guards away from the palace?"

"Possibly, though they might be expecting that."

"Scratch that idea then; what will we do when we reach the top floor?"

"Well, we will go to Zhou's room and—" Baonu paused.

"What, what is it?" Po asked.

Baonu face became solemn, "I forgot to tell you that Zhou has put an obstacle in our path."

"Like what?" Po asked.

"Well, she is holding all of the pandas and tigers as prisoners and says that only one kin can be saved and the other shall perish."

Po eyes went wide at this and he went deep into thought.

"We must think of a way to save both, Po."

"How?"

"Well, we must be fast and get to them before she does—back to the plan, when we make it to her room we will either, one," he held up one finger, "if she's there restrain her or two," held up two fingers, "if she is not there we will just enter the cells. Now if worst comes to worst, and the Wu Sisters and Zhou are there, then we fight, simple as that."

"Alright, but how are we going to deal with Zhou? I promised her brother that I wouldn't kill her."

"You've seen Bao?" Baonu's eyes widening with surprise.

"Yeah, he lives on the outskirts of Zhending."

"Really? Before he left he told me that he would be going far away from here and for me to watch my back," Baonu said. He pause for a moment and then continued, "Dragon Warrior, tell me—why did you promise him that? You know as well as I do that if push comes to shove then we would have to kill her."

"I don't know why, I just do things like that," he said with a shrug.

"Well, I don't want to kill her, believe me, but I must know that I can count on you," Baonu said, staring into Po's eyes.

Po hesitated for a moment, "I—I will."

"Good—now tell me that you will kill her if necessary."

"I will," Po said.

Baonu shook his head, "No, say it word-for-word."

"I will kill her if necessary."

"Alright," the lynx said and turned to look at Zhou's palace, "We will make our way to the palace tomorrow."

Po then nodded and the two warriors separated and went to sleep on the cold, hard earth.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter was short, but I wanted it to be that way. The next chapter is almost done; I'm editing it now, so expect it to be up in a day or two.**


	15. Thread of Hope

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. The OCs are mine though.**

Frantically scanning the room, Shifu looked for any—just _any_ possible way to escape, his thoughts racing at a million miles-per-hour, '_There has got to be a way, I must get to my daughter before they kill her.' _He continued to search for a way when he heard young voice.

"Shifu," the young fox began, "What are you doing?"

Shifu looked over at the fox, "I am looking for a way out." He then stopped what he was doing and his frantic voice calmed, "Mingliang," Shifu began, "I—I want to—thank you—for convincing me to talk to my daughter—thank you," Shifu said with much gratitude.

The fox smiled, "No problem, I am just glad that everything is well between the two of you."

Shifu then frowned, "Not everything is well. They've taken her away and will probably kill her," defeated, he sat down on a bench. After a moment, he continued, "And it's all my fault." He then put his hands over his face and shook his head in shame.

The fox then came over to Shifu and sat beside him. After a long while of silence, he spoke up, "Shifu, you did the best you could and she knows that."

Before Shifu could say anything, Viper spoke up, "He's right, Master," her words were immediately echoed by the three other Furious Five members.

Shifu considered this for a moment, "But I am her father, I can't just let her die."

"Master," Viper began, "Maybe we _can_ save her. Zhou won't kill her until the Dragon Warrior is killed first. She will use Tigress to get to Po, so we have some time."

Crane then spoke up, "What about Po? Even with Baonu he doesn't stand a chance."

Shifu thought for a moment and agreed, "We need a plan," he thought for a moment, "You four will search for Po and Baonu while I search for Tigress."

"Please, Master, let us search for her, you are injured," Viper pleaded.

"No, I must do this."

"But, Master, we could split up and search for her. Two of us will go look for her while the other two searches for Po and Baonu," Viper pleaded.

"No, I need you _all_ to search for Po."

Viper was about to counter when Mingliang spoke up, "I could do it."

At this point everybody looked at him, "I could find her," he offered.

"I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous for someone your age _and_ you don't have any fighting skills," Shifu pointed out.

"So what?" Mingliang began, "I can at least try, if I die, so what? We are probably going to die in here anyways, but this way I would at least die trying to do a good thing."

Shifu admired the kid's bravery and considered his offer.

"An advantage that I have is that I am small and very light which makes me stealthy and agile," the fox added.

"Alright, you can do it, but promise me that you will do your best to stay safe."

Mingliang nodded in agreement.

Shifu then realized a problem with their plan, "How are going to get out of these cells?"

Everyone exchanged glances and shrugged. Even though Viper had lock-picking skills, her size prevented her from reaching the lock on the cell door.

After a moment, Shifu turned his head towards the fox, "Mingliang, how long are your claws?"

The fox then unsheathed his claws and showed Shifu. "Around .25 chi* it should work fine as a lock-pick," Shifu said.

The fox then became nervous, "You're not going to take my claw out are you?"

"No," Shifu began, "_you_ will pick the lock."

"Alright, but I don't exactly know how to do it."

"That's why Viper is going to guide you through it from across the hall."

"Alright," the fox said, doubting himself. He rose from his seat and headed for the door.

"Ok," Viper began, "Now put your claw into the key-hole." Once Mingliang had done that, she gave the next step, "Ok, now feel around with your claw until you feel the tumblers. You should be able to tell."

The fox felt around for a moment, "Okay I think there are four of them," he said.

Viper analyzed what he had just said, "Alright, now listen carefully—you must push the tumblers up in a certain pattern or else they will not stay in place. If you hear a tick, that means the tumbler stayed in place."

"Okay, which one should I start with?" the fox asked.

Viper thought for a moment of what a four-pronged key looked like, "Okay, try the second to last tumbler. When you press up on them, do not use force—that could break them—be gentle and press up until you feel resistance."

Mingliang nodded and lightly pressed up on the second to last tumbler. It ticked, "Okay, I heard the tick what now?"

Viper thought again, "Try the last one."

Mingliang did as he was told. He did not hear a tick this time and felt that the first tumbler fell back into place, "It didn't work the first one fell back into place."

Viper cursed, "Alright, push the third-to-last one up again and try the first one."

The fox complied and heard ticks both times, "It worked, what next?"

"Umm…" She thought for a moment but was interrupted by the sound of a door opening from down the hall. Her heart dropped and frantically she lowered her voice to a whisper and said, "Someone's coming you will have to do the rest on your own."

Mingliang became nervous and began to sweat. He decided to try the last tumbler and it did not click. All of the tumblers fell back into place and Mingliang whipped sweat from his brow and tried again. The foxes heartbeat quickened as the footsteps became louder. He pushed the third-to-last tumbler up and heard a tick.

He pushed the first one up—tick.

His breath became faster, Shifu and the other warriors watched in anticipation as the footsteps grew louder and louder.

He pushed the last tumbler up—tick. _Yes! _He mentally cheered, _one more._

By this time Viper realized that the guard was too close and was going to catch them. She needed to do something—_fast_. All of a sudden she yelled out, "Help!"

Her trick worked, the guard ran over to see what was wrong. "What's the problem?" the guard asked sounding annoyed.

Viper looked past the guard to Shifu and saw that he was rolling his hands, signaling her to stall. She looked back at the guard, "Help! Help! I'm—I'm going into labor!"

Her trick worked on the rhino guard, for he did not know what a pregnant snake looked like. "Okay, okay," the guard said putting his hands on his head as he struggled to think of a solution.

During Viper's charade, Mingliang was able to continue picking the lock, for the rhino's back was to him. Sweating profusely and eyeing the guard carefully, making sure that he would not turn around, the fox proceeded to push up the last tumbler. Shaking from fear, he slipped and the tumbler fell back into place. He closed his eyes tightly, fearing that he had knocked all of the tumblers back into place. Much to his pleasure, the other tumblers stayed. With a silent sigh, he tried again. Mingliang hoped to himself that when the lock clicked, the guard would not hear it. Sadly, it was not so. When he got the last tumbler up, the locked clicked and the rhino turned around at the sound. When he saw the fox next to the lock he yelled, "_Escapees!_"

Before the guard could yell it again, Monkey jumped over to the door and wrapped his tail around the guard's neck and violently pulled him back to the door. The guard hit his head and fell over, unconscious.

Mingliang opened his cell door and went over to their cell. "Do I have to pick this lock now?"

"No," Viper began, "just check the guard for keys."

He went over to the unconscious guard and searched him for keys. After a moment of searching, he found four. He went over to Viper and the others and tried each key. Once he found the right one, their cell door clicked open. The four warriors cheered for a second, and then exited their cell. Before they left, they moved the unconscious rhino into their cell.

* * *

The tiger master awoke with a headache, "Where am I?" she said quietly.

"You are home." A female voiced answered. It was Zhou.

Tigress growled, "Last I checked, a prison cell did not qualify for a home."

"Well get comfortable, because you will be staying in there until the Dragon Warrior takes his last breath. And I will make sure that he takes that breath right here so that you can see it and know that it is your fault," Zhou said deviously.

Tigress growled again, "You will never be able to kill the Dragon Warrior!"

"In a fight, no, but by his own choice, yes."

Confused, Tigress then asked, "What are you talking about, he would never _let_ you kill him?"

Zhou laughed deviously, "Oh, I think he will—I mean he would do anything to save you."

Tigress clenched her teeth together, "He is not a fool, and he will not give his life up just to save me."

"Not everything is about you," she said.

Tigress' eyes then went into slits, "What do you mean?"

"Oh I forgot to tell you," She said casually, "When I captured you, I also captured all of the pandas and tigers as well."

"_What?_" Tigress exclaimed.

"Yes, and that's not all," she said enthusiastically, as if Tigress would be excited to hear what she had to say. "I told him that he can save only one kin and the other will parish, he chooses which."

Tigress took a few steps back in disbelief.

"I know he will give himself up so that he can save everyone and when he does, I will bring him here so that you can watch me spill his blood and know that it is all because of _you_!" she pointed a finger at the tiger master.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" Tigress asked.

"_Why? _Because I am going to get you before you get me! So I won't perish like my—father!" She hesitated on the father part. "All I have ever wanted was a daughter, and Shifu and that _fat_ panda want to stop that."

"Zhou, if you want a tiger child, then why don't you just adopt one?"

Zhou shook her head, "No, don't you see? All of the tigers live in this city, and they all hate me because of _my father!_ You were the only tiger that did not live here and my only chance of having a daughter!"

Tigress did not know what to say to this and decided not to respond.

"Think of your final words for the Dragon Warrior because his time will soon be over!" She spat and then left Tigress to her thoughts.

After she had left Tigress closed her eyes tightly and punched the wall in anger. Her anger soon turned into sorrow as she sat on the ground and looked out the window, "I'm sorry, Po, I failed you, _so_ sorry. Don't stop fighting; maybe, just _maybe_, you can stop this." She held onto this thread of hope, for it was all she had. She knew that watching her best friend die right in front of her would kill her—she already experienced that in Gongmen, that panda had brought her so much happiness, that she wasn't going to let go of it. That was when she slammed her fist on the ground, determined—Po was _not_ going to die. She then closed her eyes, took a deep breath and began to empty her mind, "Inner peace."

* * *

*Chi- a common measurement used in ancient China. One chi is the equivalent of one foot. Its length developed from the length of a human forearm.

**A/N: Sorry about the wait, but I was set back a day because I had to get a root canal.**


	16. Once Upon a Time

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. I do own the OCs.**

**Puckabrinaluver: Yeah I wasn't excited about the root canal, but luckily it was painless.**

_The Warrior shielded his eyes from the brightness of the light that came from the sky. He feared that this would be his demise. Much to his surprise, the light stopped hurting. He lowered his arm, allowing the light to reach his eyes. He looked into the light and no longer felt fear or pain, he felt—warmth. At that moment, he saw a figure coming toward him from the light. After a moment, he realized that the figure was the beautiful warrior that had walked through him before. He could not see the beautiful warriors face, but was still seduced by her. She then spoke, "You must hurry, read the last part. Now take my hand." Confused, the Warrior did as he was told and reached into the light. He then felt peace flow through his body. It was a different from inner peace, this was—nicer, for he was not alone; he was with the beautiful warrior._

_Then it ended._

Po awoke with a peaceful feeling. He then stopped for a moment and pieced together his dreams. He realized that all of his dreams were linked together. And that the warrior in them was him, and the beautiful warrior was none other than Tigress. Then the words echoed in his head, '_You must hurry, read the last part.'_ He then tried to think of what she meant by "Third Part." After a moment it hit him, "The scroll!" he pulled it out of his travel pack and went to the third part.

_Lesson Three: Completing the Life_

_By now, you should have successfully taught someone inner peace. All that is left for you to do is to find your other half—the person that you want to spend the rest of your life with—the one who brings you peace and you to her. You will bind your souls together and become one._

_Note: Po, this is an important step, you must truly love this person with your entire heart and soul. I could never complete this part, not many have. It is hard for a person to find a perfect person, but I have faith in you—you will find her, even if it takes a lifetime._

Po set down the scroll, determination on his features, "I'm coming for you Zhou, so get ready!"

Baonu awoke to Po's shouting, "What's wrong Po, what is it?"

Po did not avert his eyes from Zhou's palace, "Let's storm that palace."

Baonu smiled at the panda's determination, "Let's go then."

The two warriors then headed for Zhending.

* * *

"Inner peace—inner peace…" Tigress was clearing her mind. The clouds in her mind began to part and finally vanished, she saw blue sky and a flat field covered in green grass. She had done it, she had found inner peace. But it did not feel complete, there was still something missing, but she could not put her finger on it. She pondered long and hard about what could possibly be missing. '_W__hy do I still feel something's missing? What could it be...'_

* * *

As they reached the gates of Zhending, Po poked his head in to get a look at how guarded the city was. When he looked he saw a large number of guards patrolling up and down the streets. He drew back, "Yeah, the city is too heavily guarded to enter."

"Just as I thought—okay, we will have no choice but to walk around the city 'til we reach the west wall of Zhou's Palace," Baonu said.

Po glanced over at Baonu and nodded to him in confirmation. He then stopped, "Wait—how are going to dig?"

Baonu thought for a moment. After a minute he answered, "We'll need shovels—there's a gardening shop not far from this gate—but I'm not sure it's even open, with the city under martial law."

After a moment of thinking, Po spoke up, "We can always just "borrow" them."

Po offer drew an incredulous look from the feline, "Are you implying that we _steal_ them?"

Misunderstood, Po quickly tried to fix the situation, "No, no, no, that's not what I meant. I meant borrow them literally and return them when we finish."

"That's still stealing if the vendor is unaware of the transaction," Baonu responded, still uneasy with the idea.

"Well then what if we enough Yuan on the counter to cover the two shovels and the vendor will get it in the morning."

"Wait a minute," Baonu said putting a paw up, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, we don't know if the shovels will even _be_ there. I can't believe that they would just leave their inventory out on the streets when they're not working," he pointed out.

"Maybe they hurried into their homes when the city went into martial law and did not have time to bring their items in," Po offered.

"I doubt it," the feline said flatly.

"Well we can at least try—it's either that, or we dig by hand to get in, and that would take about three days."

Seeing no other option, Baonu regretfully agreed to go the shop.

To remain hidden, they traveled by rooftop. Once they made it to the shop, Baonu's eyes widened when he saw that the vendor _had_ left his inventory out. Both warriors checked for guards. When they saw none, they jumped down and quickly grabbed two shovels and placed fifty Yuan on the counter for both. The two warriors hurriedly got back onto the roof of a nearby house... not without help from Baonu of course. Both warriors made it out of the city unseen—or so they thought.

Unbeknownst to them, the whole time they had been watched from not too far away, by the Wu Sisters.

Su smirked, "They are trying to rescue their friends now."

"Should we stop them?" Wan asked.

"No," Su replied, "We wait until they are inside the palace, _then_ we make our move."

"How shall we do it?" Wing asked.

"We let them gain some ground, let them believe they are winning. Since they are going to split up, I'll let you two take care of the Dragon Warrior first and I'll deal with the lynx."

"But sister, Zhou said not to kill the lynx," Wan reminded.

"I don't care what Zhou wants. Once every one is taken care of, we will take care of her."

"But, why would we take her out?" Wing asked.

Su turned around to face her sisters, "Don't you see? With her political power, we could rule China. If we take her out, everyone will fear us, even the emperor himself. Everyone will fear _our_ names and we will use that advantage to take out the emperor. And then we rule China!"

"Good plan sister," Wing complimented.

"It is indeed," echoed Wan.

Su then turned back where Po and Baonu had left, "They had a good plan, it's a shame that they didn't check for spies," Su said while laughing evilly. "Keep running Dragon Warrior, your demise is coming soon."

* * *

Back at Zhou Palace, around the west wall, two warriors began to dig.

After a long period of silence, Baonu spoke up, "So," he said grabbing Po's attention, "Forgive me if this question is too personal, but, how did you become the Dragon Warrior exactly?"

Embarrassed by the memories of him becoming the Dragon Warrior he scratched the back of his neck, "Well…"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tread on sensitive grounds," Baonu apologized.

"Naw, don't worry about it," he said waving it off, "Well, it was a sunny day and I was just a normal villager, I worked for my father at his noodle shop."

"I was a huge fan of kung-fu and secretly wished my whole life to become a kung-fu warrior and fight alongside the Furious Five. I knew that the dream was ridiculous, but I still wished."

At this point Baonu was more focused on Po's story than he was with the digging. He was thoroughly interested in how _he_, a _noodle shop worker_, became China's _greatest_ hero.

Po continued, "On that normal summer's day somebody had entered the shop and put a poster up on the wall. Curious, I went over to see what it was. When I read it, it said that Oogway was choosing the Dragon Warrior that day. As an avid fan, I excitedly pushed all the people out of the shop and hurried to leave for the Jade Palace. My dad had other plans—he told me that I needed to sell noodles at the event which lowered my enthusiasm. As much as I wanted to tell him no, he was my father and I could not deny him—little did I know that because of what my dad did, I would become the Dragon Warrior..."

Baonu usually wasn't one to show his emotions, but in this case, he was so into Po's story that curiosity was evident on his face.

"...So I took the noodle cart and wheeled it to the bottom of the Thousand Stairs."

At the mentioning of the stairs, Baonu was visited by the memory of those stairs, "I remember those stairs. They took forever to climb, though it was a great workout."

"Yeah, I hate them—can never get used to 'em—anyways, I had the noodle cart and I remember dreadfully looking up the huge flight of stairs. Being myself, I slammed my fist down in determination, grabbed the noodle cart and began to make my way up the stairs. After what seemed like forever, I was crawling with the cart, reassuring myself that I was almost there."

Baonu laughed, "Yeah I could see how a regular person would be crawling by the time they were almost at the top."

Po laughed as well, except his was a nervous, sort of embarrassed one, "Yeah, well, I decided to check my progress and looked down... when I did I saw that I was only about nine or ten steps up."

"Oh," Baonu tried as hard as he could to hide his surprise from the panda, and this only made him more curious as to how he became Dragon Warrior.

An awkward silence overtook the warriors.

"Anyways," Po said breaking the silence, "I rolled over in defeat and was ready to give up, until two villagers passed me on the stairs and said, "Sorry Po, we'll bring you back a souvenir," That was when I put my foot down. I said to myself, "no, I'll bring me back a souvenir," and left the cart, took off my apron and hat and ran up the stairs. Now I had accepted the fact that I was an overweight panda who would probably never amount to more than a cook at the family noodle shop, but I was _not _going to let people pick on me for it. Once I had finally reached the top of the stairs, I rolled over on my back and cheered—unfortunately as I did that, the palace doors began to close. I tried to run through the doors before they closed, but ended up running face-first into them. I quickly recovered and immediately began to pound on the door, which was drowned out by the orchestra's drums. Frantically, I searched for a way into the palace. After a moment, I found a small circular window that was open on the wall. I ran to it and pulled myself up to see through it. I was able to see the Furious Five perfectly through it, but when Crane smacked his wings together, it sent a gust of wind out that slammed the window shut, and sent me flying to the ground. I tried many other things to get in and all of them failed." Po then remembered all of the embarrassing attempts to get in to the palace and decided not to tell them. "After awhile, I just gave up and sat at the top of the stairs in defeat. I sat there for a while until I heard Master Shifu say, "...And Finally, Master Tigress," that was when I snapped, I _needed_ to get in and _fast. _I tried to catapult myself in by using a tree. It flung me, but not into the palace arena. I landed in a pile of fireworks. I laid there until I heard Shifu say, "Master Oogway will now choose the Dragon Warrior," I jumped up and yelled, "Wait," though I knew no one could hear me. That was when I realized that I had landed in a pile of fireworks. As a last hope, I took a chair and tied a bunch of fireworks to it."

At this point, Baonu was laughing, "_Fireworks, really?"_ he said, surprised that the panda would do something so stupid and dangerous.

"Yeah," Po said, "It was a dumb idea. So I then took a match and lit the ropes. I was prepared to take off, when my father reached the top of the stairs. He yelled, "What are you doing?" obviously concerned for my well-being. He then put out the burning ropes—except for one. When the fire had finally reached the firework I yelled out, "I love kung fuuuuuuuuu," and prepared to be launched into the sky. But the fire work failed and all that happened was that the chair fell on me. Finally accepting defeat, I began to get up to get back to work with my father. But before I could, the firework began to go off. I went flying into the wall for a moment and then the chair took off into the sky with me in it. After the fireworks had blown up all I remember was falling and then black. The next thing I remember were the faces of the Furious Five then a long claw pointing at me. It was Oogway—I thought he was pointing at me because I was in the way so I apologized and told him that all I wanted was to see who the Dragon Warrior was. He replied with a "How interesting," and I stood up. Tigress then asked Oogway if he was pointing at her, but he responded by saying, "Him," and continued to point at me. I was in disbelief and was unsure why he was pointing at me until he raised my arm up with his staff and said, "The universe has brought us the Dragon Warrior. After that I think I heard about a million, "Whats," and the next thing I knew, I was being carried off by palace servants."

"Wow—talk about fate," Baonu said.

"Yeah tell me about it, once upon a time I was just a cook in a family noodle shop, wishing to become something more... little did I know that one day, my wish would come true," Po agreed.

"I just have one question," Baonu said, "So Master Tigress is your favorite?"

"Yeah, she is totally awesome!"

The next question caught Po off guard, "Do you love her?"

Po nearly choked in surprise, 'What?—No of course—not," he said, looking guilty.

Baonu gave him a deadpan look.

"Okay, I do, but so what, she doesn't love me back."

"And why not?" Baonu questioned.

"There's more to the story, I didn't just become Dragon Warrior after I was carried off."

"Oh," Baonu said.

"After that I met Master Shifu whom was angry that _I_ was chosen as Dragon Warrior over Tigress. Since I knew no kung-fu, I needed him to teach me so that I could obtain the Dragon Scroll. He made my experience a nightmare. He tried over and over, to get me to leave, but I stayed because I believed that he could change me—make me better. The rest of the Five warmed up to me after a few days—except for Tigress. Unlike Shifu, who had at least kept his feelings to himself, she was more outward with how she felt. She told me that I didn't belong in the Jade Palace and if I had any respect for them and kung-fu, I would leave by the morning. When I did not leave she kept it up, one night, she called me a big, fat, panda that treats kung-fu like a joke. Not long after that, the Furious Five left for about a week to stop Tai-Lung and I stayed and trained with Shifu, who at that point had finally begun to believe in me. The Five left against Shifu's wishes for I was supposed to be the one who stopped Tai-Lung. Well they were defeated but thankfully not killed. When they had returned defeated, that was when Shifu decided to give me the Dragon Scroll. To my surprise, it was blank. And because of it everyone fled the valley knowing nothing could stop Tai-Lung. It was as we were fleeing the village when my dad told me something that helped me decipher the Dragon scroll. He said that there is no secret ingredient, it's just you, though he was refering to his famous noodle soup. I then realized that the scroll being blank symbolized that in order to make something special, you have to _believe_ it's special. It worked and I ended up defeating Tai-Lung. _That_ was when I became the Dragon Warrior. Right after I had defeated Tai-Lung, Tigress finally bowed to me and accepted me being the Dragon Warrior. And from that day, Tigress and me have become best friends.

"Wow—what an amazing story!" Baonu said, amazed. "Po, the only way you will find out if she loves you or not, is to tell her how you feel."

"I will—if she is still alive." Po then frowned at the thought that his best friend might possibly be dead.

Baonu saw his struggle and stopped digging, walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Po, do not worry, your friend is more than likely alive."

"How do you know? How can you be sure?"

"Like I said, Zhou will keep her alive until you are dead. Same goes for your friends and Master. Based on what you've told me, you are determined and never give up."

At this Po seemed to regain some confidence and determination, "You're right, I cannot give up," he then began digging again, but faster this time, more determined.

After a moment of silence, Po decided to ask a question, "So, how did _you_ become a master?"

Baonu stopped his digging for a moment, "Ah the euphoria these memories bring me. Well, I grew up in the Valley of Light. It was a small valley that was always sunny and the ground always fertile—that is why it's called the Valley of _Light_. Anyways, this valley was located near Gongmen city, probably a three day travel. Now when I was around eleven, I was a simple village boy who helped his father on the farm. I thought that was what I was going to do for the rest of my life until one day, a group of kung-fu masters from Gongmen were traveling through our little village. They approached my father and asked him if he would allow me to go and live with them and learn the sacred art of kung-fu. My father agreed, believing that they could offer me a better life than that of a poor farmer."

"Were you afraid of leaving?" Po asked.

"No, even though I had no idea what kung-fu was, I was just happy to leave that farm. In Gongmen, I trained under Master Ox, Master Rhino and Master Croc."

"Wow, _really_, you trained under _them_?" Po said enthusiastically.

"I did and after ten years of training, I was able to defeat both Masters Ox and Croc. I never fought Master Rhino, but he did tell me that my skills were extraordinary. After I had beaten both Masters Ox and Croc, Master Rhino told me that it was time to move on my own and teach kung-fu. He named me Master and bid me a farewell. That is when I moved to Zhending and was about to open up a school. Before I could though, I was approached by Bao. Apparently word had gotten out that I was a kung-fu master and Zhou wanted my skills working for her. I was offered a job as a teacher for her guards—eventually I became the commander of her army."

"Amazing!" Po said, "That must have been an awesome life!"

"It was, but now it's a bad one. I have been betrayed by Zhou and have lost my job."

"It can still be an awesome life, once we defeat Zhou that is."

Baonu then smiled, "You're right, we can still defeat Zhou!" Baonu exclaimed and then Continued digging.

* * *

"Okay," Baonu began, "the plan is working so far."

"We need to get in now," Po said.

"Yes," Baonu agreed, "now in order to get in, we must carefully remove these stones—I'll remove one and look inside for any guards. Baonu then removed a rock and looked inside, "Okay, we're clear."

Po nodded and then began to carefully remove individual stones. After awhile they made a hole large enough for Baonu to slip in with ease and Po to squeeze in.

Po looked back at the hole in the wall, "Should we fill it back in?"

"No, don't bother, it would just waste time."

Po agreed and the two then took off, going deeper into the dungeon.

* * *

**A/N:Sorry for the delay in updating, but I was busy getting ready for school, which started last Thursday for me(Senior year!). There shouldn't be anymore delays now that I'm settled in with school. From now on, I upload my stories on Sunday.**


	17. Our Farewell

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. I do own the OCs.**

With the now freed warriors, Viper, Mantis, Crane and Monkey all searched for the Dragon Warrior and Baonu while remaining hidden from Zhou's guards. They searched high and low for the two warriors, but could not find them anywhere. Little did they know that they were underground, making their way through the dungeon.

Mantis then turned to his fellow warriors, "He's not here, we've checked everywhere," he whispered.

After a moment of thought Crane spoke up, "What about a dungeon? If this place has one, then maybe they are being held there."

The others considered this, "I bet this place _does_ have one," Viper whispered.

"Alright then, we will go there," Crane said. Because neither Tigress nor Po were there, he took over as leader of the group. Years ago they made up this system, If Tigress was captured, then Crane would take over as leader. If he and she were captured, then Monkey would take over and if not him then Viper. Much to his disappointment, Mantis was not chosen because he had no leading skills or experience.

The warriors traveled to the ground level of Zhou's palace and searched for a way to get in to the dungeon. Eventually they found a wooden door on the floor and opened it. Much to their relief, there were stairs on the inside, leading down into what looked to be a dungeon.

"Alright, this is it," Crane whispered.

The others nodded and followed him down the stairs.

* * *

Po and Baonu stuck together in the maze that was the dungeon.

Po saw that Baonu seemed to know where he was going so he just followed.

After awhile, Po stopped walking and whispered something to Baonu, "Baonu, I think someone is coming," he then motioned to the corner of the corridor, where it turned. Po then slid with his back against the wall with Baonu just behind him, edging toward the corner. Po waited at the corner until the footsteps were right next to him. Po jumped around the corner and kicked the attacker.

"Ow," the attacker said.

Po then realized that his attacker was Crane. "_Crane?_" Po questioned, "Oh, sorry I hit you." Po was just glad that it was he who hit Crane and not Baonu—with his strength, he would have probably killed him.

"It's fine, I should have been more alert—did you guys escape?"

"Escape what?" Po asked.

"Wait, you guys weren't captured?"

"No, what made you think that?" Po asked the avian.

"Well you guys are in the dungeon."

"That's how we got in; we dug outside of the palace walls until we reached the dungeon. It was the only way to get in undetected."

"Interesting," Crane said, "whose idea was it?"

"Both of ours," he said, motioning to Baonu.

"Are you sure? I mean you didn't just sit back as Baonu made the plan?" The avian asked doubtfully.

Po looked physically hurt by Crane's words, "I _did_ help!" Po exclaimed.

At this Crane looked at Baonu, "Did he really help?"

Baonu nodded his head, "He has created several points in the plan that have help it to be successful."

"Wow," Mantis said, "Po can actually make a plan that works."

Po deadpanned, "C'mon Mantis, I've made many successful plans."

"Like the one where you thought you could cook your food faster if you put if you cooked it in a bigger fire."

Po immediately shut his mouth in embarrassment. He then noticed that neither Shifu nor Tigress where with them, "Hey, where's Master Shifu and Tigress?"

"Shifu stayed in his cell because he was injured and Zhou's guards took Tigress to a different cell somewhere in the palace I assume."

Baonu walked towards the group, "I hate to break up this moment, but we need to continue if we want to capture Zhou."

"Right," Po agreed and then turned to face his fellow warriors again, "Can you all do me a favor?"

"Sure, what do you need?" Crane replied.

"Can you guys travel outside of the city and get reinforcements?"

"Can do, but will you both be okay on your own?" Crane asked.

"We'll be fine—can you show us the way out of here?" Po asked.

"Yeah," Crane began but stopped himself, "Well I don't exactly remember the way out. This place is a maze."

Baonu then spoke up, "I know the way, let's go." Baonu then passed the warriors and walked down the hallway and after a moment, the others followed.

* * *

Tigress was busy trying to find a way out of her cell when she heard a door open at the end of the hallway. She saw a group of guards coming her way. She moved away from the cell door as the guards stopped at it.

"Zhou has requested you to be moved to a different cell."

She tensed, preparing to fight, "Make me," she challenged.

"Alright," the guard said as he unlocked the gate and let in around ten guards.

Tigress remained where she was, waiting for them to make the first move. One guard decided to approach her and tried to grab her, to which she responded with a swift kick to the jaw.

The guard was sent flying into the wall and was knocked unconscious. The next moment, all nine guards were on her. She began fighting them off, but felt a sharp pain in her neck. Instinctively, she turned to the source of the pain and saw a small dart sticking out of her neck. She immediately pulled it out and continued to fight. But after a few seconds, she began to feel weak. The feeling kept increasing until she was so weak that she fell to her hands and knees. "What's happening?" she asked.

"Calomel," a guard said as two guards lifted her to her feet, "It's a mineral, that is used as a sedative. That dart was coated with it."

She tried to growl, but nothing came out. She continued to feel the weakness grow until her eyes were too weak to stay open and she passed out.

The head guard then ordered his men to put chains around her arms and drag her out.

Meanwhile, Mingliang was sneaking around the palace, searching for any sign of the tiger master. Unfamiliar with the palace, Mingliang did not know where to look so he decided to go down. As he made his way down he noticed a group of guards coming his way so he decided to take cover behind a pillar. As the guards passed him he poked his head out to see, when he did, he saw that the guards were dragging a prisoner, a tigress. '_Could that be—it is,' _the fox thought, trying to get a good look at her to make sure that she wasn't dead. When he saw that she was still breathing, he decided to follow the guards to wherever they were taking her.

Mingliang followed them for a long time; they were now going up towards the top.

* * *

Zhou stood looking at Shifu with much distaste, "I am bringing Tigress back here,"

"Why, was your other cell unable to hold her?" he mocked.

She snarled, "You think you are funny? Well you're not! I am bringing her back here because I want her to watch you die."

At that moment, Shifu's entire demeanor changed from indifferent to concerned, "Kill me if you must, but don't do it in front of my daughter."

"She is _**not**_ your daughter!" Zhou snapped.

"By blood, no, but by love, yes."

"You are a red panda, not a tiger; you _can't_ be her father when you are not the same species!"

"You don't have to be the same species to love."

"Yes you do!" the feline snapped.

"Why?"

Zhou was unsure of what to say for a moment, "Because… you just do!"

"Why, Zhou, why must you destroy love?"

"I am not destroying it, I am fixing it!"

"You're not doing very well by the looks of it, you've got my daughter imprisoned, how is that love?" he pointed out.

"It is punishment for disobeying me! And I said she is _**NOT**_ your daughter!" She roar out the word not. After a moment Zhou got an idea, she smirked evilly, "Well," she began, "let's have her decided whether or not she is your daughter when she gets here."

Shifu frowned at this which did not go unnoticed by Zhou, "What's wrong, Shifu, afraid she will not acknowledge you as her father?" She teased and Shifu did not respond.

After a moment a group of guards entered the hall, dragging a prisoner behind them.

Shifu's eyes widened when he realized who the prisoner was, "Tigress, what have you done to her Zhou?" Shifu demanded.

Just as confused as Shifu, Zhou asked, "What _did_ you do to her?"

"We used Calomel to sedate her."

"All I asked was for you to bring her back here and you go and sedate her?" Zhou asked dangerously.

"She would not cooperate so we had no choice," the guard defended.

"Did you tell her _why_ you were taking her?"

"Well—no, but—" Zhou cut him off.

"You fool; she would have cooperated if you simply told her why she was being moved. No matter just put her in the cell across from his."

The guards nodded and put Tigress into the cell where the four other warriors were previously. Zhou was too preoccupied with Shifu to notice that they were missing."

Zhou then looked back to Shifu, "When she wakes up we will see who she chooses." Zhou then took a seat in a chair outside of the cells, waiting for the tiger master to awaken.

Shifu took a seat inside of his cell and thought, '_Tigress won't choose me as her father—she will choose her birth parents._' Shifu was pulled from his thoughts by the sounds of the tiger master awakening. She put a paw on her head in pain and Shifu rushed to his cell door, "Tigress, Tigress, are you alright?"

Tigress focused her eyes on Shifu and stood, "Master? I think I'm okay."

A look of relief washed over Shifu's face and Tigress noticed it.

Zhou then stood up and stood in front of her cell door. "Tigress," Zhou began, "Shifu and I have a question for you."

Tigress was confused by this and looked at her master for approval. When he nodded his head in confirmation, she looked back at Zhou.

"Who are your birth parents?" Zhou asked.

"What?" Shifu yelled, "That was not the question."

Zhou held her paw up to silence him and asked Tigress again, "Who are you're birth parents?"

Unsure of how to answer her, she hesitantly said, "Tigers," not wanting to give away her real parents names.

Zhou gave a devious smile to this response, "As I presumed," she then turned to Shifu, "You lose."

"Wait, what, why does he lose? What is going on?" Tigress demanded.

Shifu sorrowfully looked her in the eyes, "I love you Tigress—always remember that."

She then realized what was happening, "No, _no,_ you can't do this Zhou, you can't kill my father!"

"I'm not killing your father, I'm killing _him_," She said as she pointed to him.

"What? Shifu _is_ my father!"

Zhou then became nervous, realizing that she was about to lose. She then became enraged, "_Him?" _She spat, "He's a red panda, not a tiger—you're father's a tiger."

"No," Tigress began, "my _birth_ parents are tigers—my _father_ is Shifu."

Not accepting defeat, Zhou decided to pull a dirty stunt, "Not for long!" Zhou then turned and left.

Shocked that she chose him over her birth parents, Shifu just looked his daughter in the eyes with disbelief.

"No, _no_, they can't kill you master, I won't let them."

Ignoring her, he asked, "Did you really mean what you said—about me being your father?"

"Well," she began and Shifu nodded his head, confirming what he feared, "I don't know—I said that to protect you from Zhou, but…" she paused.

"I know Tigress; you love your birth parents."

"I don't know Master, I don't know. Why does this have to happen? I can't make this decision."

"Tigress," Shifu began, "I know that you should make your own decisions, but, I recommend you choose your birth parents—then you will finally have parents that can give you the love that you deserve. Soon they will kill me and you will be left with no choice anyway."

"Master, I don't want you to die, I just can't choose."

"I know Tigress," Shifu began sympathetically, "just remember that you are my best student, and I am the most proud of you—more proud than I was of Tai-Lung. You are my star student and I consider you my daughter. Ever since I first saw you, your eyes burned with ambition and they still do to this very day. Never let anyone put that fire out." At this point Shifu walked out of his cell for it was still unlocked from earlier.

Tigress was too shocked by Shifu's words to notice or care, she just continued to listen.

He approached her cell, "Tigress, though I have not been the father you deserve, I still want you to know that you are my little lotus flower, and I love you," at this point he embraced her through the bars and she immediately embraced him back. "Always remember that, Tigress, always remember."

Tigress then felt a feeling she hadn't felt since she was a child. Her vision began to blur as warm, salty liquid filled her eyes. A single tear escaped and rolled down her cheek and fell onto Shifu's robe. She squeezed her eyes shut to prevent any more from escaping. She tried as hard as she could to get rid of this foreign feeling, but it stayed. With a shaky voice, she answered her master, "I will, father." Tigress tried to remain strong and hardcore, but in reality, she's a little girl who doesn't want to lose her father. With a shaky voice she continued, "I have decided that you are my father."

Shifu smiled at this and ended the embrace. He looked her in the eyes and saw that they were glistening. He also saw a streak of wet fur under her eye where she shed a single tear.

Ashamed, she turned away, her voice once again stable, she said, "Forgive me for being weak, father."

"Do not be ashamed Tigress; just say what's on your mind."

She built up the strength to look at him once again, "I don't want you to go."

"It's what must happen—you are ready, Tigress, ready to take over as master of the Jade Palace. Take care of the Five and Po; tell them I am proud to have been their master."

At this, guards entered the hallway and grabbed Shifu, "How did you escape your cell?" the guard then turned his attention to another guard, "Go and inform Zhou that we have got Shifu, but he was able to escape his cell."

The guard nodded and left. "Alright, let's take this prisoner out of here."

Shifu then looked at Tigress once more, "Goodbye Tigress, I love you."

"I love you too, father." She said and then watched as he was taken away. As badly as she wanted to, she told herself that it wasn't the time to cry, she had to be strong for her father's sake.

* * *

"Malady," a guard addressed Zhou with a bow.

"Yes?" She said in an irritated manner.

"We have Shifu, but when we got him we found out that his cell was unlocked. He must have picked the lock. Were there any other prisoners that could have escaped?"

Zhou thought for a moment, "Who all was there?"

"Well," the guard began, "There was Shifu and that tiger in the cell across from him."

Zhou then pieced together the puzzle, "The four warriors, they must have escaped! Send a group of soldiers after them—tell them to hunt down a crane, a monkey, a mantis and a viper! Also tell them that they are to be killed not brought back here!"

"Understood," the guard said in a bow and then left.

Zhou then turned around and looked out of her window, "I will win," she said with a determined look on her face.

* * *

**A/N:Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


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